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THE   AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 


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c       t    c        '     , 

*  "^   i  I  *  i  '  ^ . 


Villa  Life  in  Southern  France 


•The 

American  Woman 

Abroad 


r/^' 


Written  and  profusely  illustrated 

by 
BLANCHE   McMANUS  m^-^-^^ 


NEW  YORK 

DODD,  MEAD  AND  COMPANY 

1911 


Copyright,  191  i,  by 
DODD,  MEAD  AND  COMPANY 

Published^  October^  1911 


THE    OUINN    A    ■OOEN    CO.  PRESS 
RAHWAY,   N.  J. 


FOREWORD 

The  American  Woman  needs  no  introduction  abroad. 

Always  she  is  the  most  welcome  of  the  throngs  of 
self-invited  guests  who  attend  the  great  annual  *'  At 
Home  "  which  the  European  world  holds  for  the  visit- 
ing strangers,  an  entertainment  that  is  becoming  an 
all  the  year  around  function. 

All  that  Europe  has  to  offer  is  hers  on  call,  so  long 
as  she  radiates  that  graciousness  and  appreciation 
which  everywhere  distinguishes  her — the  most  viva- 
cious and  distinctive  feminine  personality  of  all  the 
women  of  the  world  to  be  seen  on  the  European  Play- 
ground. 

To  the  American  woman  abroad  is  due  the  credit  of 
having  so  far  influenced  the  conventions  and  traditions 
of  the  Old  World  as  to  have  it  recognise  and  accept 
with  good  grace  (in  so  far  at  least  as  her  own  actions 
are  concerned)  a  new  standard  of  feminine  conduct — 
freer  and  more  independent  than  its  own,  but  none  the 
less  modest  and  self-protective. 

The  scheme  of  the  following  chapters  is  that  of 
discursive  comments  on  the  more  intimate  and  per- 
sonal phases  of  life  in  European  countries  which  might 
be  of  interest  to  the  American  woman  at  home  or 
abroad;  whether  she  is  the  casual  summer  bird  of 
passage  across  the  Atlantic,  or  is  planning  a  house- 


226684 


vi  FOREWORD 

hunting  tour  of  Europe,  or  only  wants  to  read  about 
it  comfortably  at  home. 

In  this  book,  it  is  hoped,  will  be  found  set  forth 
fairly  and  correctly  the  results  of  the  observations  of 
one  who  has  tried  to  study  the  values  in  the  foreign 
picture  with  an  open  mind. 
'  Toulon,  France.  ^*  McM. 


onienis 


V 

VI 

VII 

VIII 

IX 

X 

XI 

XII 

XIII 

XIV 

XV 

XVI 

XVII 

XVIII 

XIX 

XX 

XXI 


33 

63 
89 

133 

157^ 

179 

209 


The  Cost  of  Living  Abroad  . 
Servants   and   the   Servant 
Question 

III  Foreign   Markets  and  Marketing 

IV  Some  Housekeeping  Experiences    . 
The  Lone  Woman  Traveller     . 
Tips  and  Tipping         .... 
The  European  Shopping  Tour  . 
Clothes  and  the  Woman   . 
The  Men  Dressmakers  of  Paris  and 

London 231 

The  Social  Side 251 

Cities  of  Pleasure  ....  269 
The  Country  Hotels  of  Europe  .  299 
Woman  and  the  European  Hotel  .  329 
Light  Refreshments  ....  353 
The     Woman     Traveller     and     the 

French  Cafe  .  .  .  .  -371 
Some  German  Spas  .  .  .  .391 
Artists'  Sketching-Grounds  Abroad  .  409 
Winter  Sports  in  Switzerland  .  .  439 
The  Woman  and  the  Car  .  .  .461 
The   Touring    Club   de   France   and 

How  It  Aids  the  Traveller  .  .  483 
French  Law  for  Foreigners       .         .     505 


JS'Ur^i 


Villa  Life  in  Southern  France 

Frontispiece 


The  Water  Supply  . 

Birthday  Gifts 

A  Mediterranean  Market 

A  Blanchisseuse  of  Normandy 

The  Way  Around  Algeria 

When  the  Native  Lady  Goes  Shopping  in  North 
Africa 


Society  Dines  Out  of  Doors     . 

On  the  Riviera        .... 

On  the  Cote  d'Emeraud — Normandy 

Hotel  Garden — Montreux 

The  Hour  of  the  Ap^tif 

Dejeuner — Hotel  Bellevue    les  Andelys 

From  the  Point  of  View  of  the  Cook 

A  Country  Hotel  of  France    , 


FACING    PAGE 
20 


38 

76 

116 

262 
276 

332 
378 
416 
468 
490 


THE  COST  OF  LIVING  ABROAD 

To  a  man  is  due  the  discovery  that  one  can  live 
cheaply  abroad,  because  one  can  wear  his,  or  her,  old 
clothes.  This,  brought  down  to  the  last  analysis, 
precipitates  the  fact  that  cheap  living  in  Europe  is 
made  possible  by  what  one  goes  without,  and  the 
willingness  to  do  things  abroad  that  one  does  not 
like  to  do,  or  will  not  do,  at  home. 

No  greater  myth  exists,  in  so  far  as  its  practical 
application  to  the  majority  of  cases  goes,  than  the 
belief  that  living  abroad,  which  is  taken  to  mean 
living  in  western  Europe,  for  the  American,  is  cheap. 

The  majority  of  Americans  who  try  it  make  the 
excuse  that  it  is  for  economical  reasons,  but  as  a 
matter  of  fact  it  is  more  likely  to  be  a  desire  for  a 
change,  or  from  the  ennuis  of  the  servant  question,  or 
that  they  just  want  to  take  a  rest.  They  have  heard 
the  usual  tale  of  how  everything  costs  just  half  of 
what  it  does  at  home.  It  is  a  good  chance  for  one's 
children  to  acquire  French  or  German  or  dancing  or 
art  or  some  other  accomplishment  at  the  same  time. 

Friends  who  have  gone  before  may  have  brought 
back  stories  of  heatless  and  waterless  houses,  but  it 
is  difficult  to  bring  this  fact  and  just  what  it  means 
home  to  the  average  American  housekeeper  who  has 

3 


4         THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

never  been  without  all  of  the  mechanical  conveniences 
that  the  Ingenuity  of  a  resourceful  people  have  been 
able  to  bring  to  bear  on  the  housekeeping  question. 

The  American  woman  who  finds  the  problem  of 
high  living  at  home  ever  perplexing  her,  will  find  it 
duplicated  In  many  phases  on  the  other  side  of  the 
water.  It  is  a  common  assertion  of  late  that  Amer- 
icans have  much  to  do  with  the  Increased  cost  of 
living  abroad,  but  this  Is  probably  giving  them  undue 
prominence  In  the  foreign  financial  scheme  of  things. 

In  the  last  ten  years  the  cost  of  living  all  over 
Europe  has  advanced  sometimes  as  much  as  fifty  per 
cent,  and  In  some  cases  a  hundred  would  not  be  too 
extravagant  an  estimate,  and  while  the  economic 
cause  for  this  lies  far  beyond  the  circumscribed  round 
of  the  tourist  traveller,  It  Is  true  that  the  high-living, 
high-spending  traveller  from  America  must  bear  the 
responsibility  for  some  of  the  Increase  in  prices,  in  so 
far  as  they  affect  the  stranger  on  the  Continent. 

Thus  it  is  when  the  American  woman  goes  hunting 
in  a  European  capital  for  things  on  the  same  scale 
as  she  has  them  at  home,  she  will  find  that  it  costs 
her  just  as  much,  proportionately  even  more,  than 
the  same  thing  at  home,  and,  to  use  a  *'  shamrock  " 
phrase.  It  is  not  the  same  thing  either,  very  often  not 
even  a  good  imitation,  while  unfamlliarlty  with  for- 
eign household  economics  completes  the  demoralisa- 
tion. The  experiment  Is  apt  to  be  brief,  and  a  year 
or  two  finds  the  family  back  to  the  delights  of  veranda 
life  in  some  comfortable  American  suburb. 

There  is  only  one  way  to  live  cheaply  abroad — 


THE  COST  OF  LIVING  ABROAD  5 

live  as  the  people  of  the  country  live.  Not  until  one 
does  this  is  any  economy  possible,  or  enjoyment.  For 
most  of  us  that  is  just  the  rub.  It  means  making 
over  one's  tastes,  habits  of  body  and  mind,  and  if 
this  is  to  be  done  at  all,  one  must  begin  young  or 
be  born  a  philosopher,  and  however  numerous  may  be 
a  woman's  virtues,  equanimity,  under  a  new  set  of 
laws  governing  daily  life,  is  rarely  one  of  them. 

Anywhere  outside  of  the  large  city  modern  con- 
veniences can  rarely  be  found  at  any  price,  and 
where  they  are  creeping  in,  have  increased  the  cost 
of  living  out  of  all  proportion  to  their  benefits. 

Take  as  an  example  a  certain  French  town  of  a 
hundred  thousand  Inhabitants.  A  few  modern  apart- 
ment buildings  have  just  gone  up — the  most  desira- 
ble in  the  town.  An  apartment  of  eight  rooms  rents 
for  say,  two  thousand  five  hundred  francs  (five  hun- 
dred dollars)  per  annum;  dear  enough  for  a  provin- 
cial town.  There  Is  an  elevator  of  a  kind,  but  the 
tenant  must,  In  addition,  pay  five  hundred  francs  a 
year  for  its  use,  besides  an  extra  hundred  francs 
to  have  the  garbage  removed  and  something  more 
for  the  lighting  of  the  public  halls,  besides  a  "  fur- 
niture "  and  a  door  and  window  tax.  It  is  the  Euro- 
pean system  of  extras  that  runs  up  the  bills.  An 
economically  inclined  French  family  might  Insist  on 
using  the  stairway,  having  been  accustomed  to  noth- 
ing else,  but,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  the  system  as  out- 
lined, is  only  an  Ingenious  way  of  raising  the  rent. 

Florence  Is  one  of  the  most  popular  European 
cities  that  attracts  the  prospective  housekeeper  on  the 


6         THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

other  side,  principally  because  the  fact  is  well  adver- 
tised that  it  has  one  of  the  largest  English-speaking 
colonies,  which  alone  makes  for  advanced  prices, 
and  then  they  are  drawn  there  by  the  lure  of  Italy. 
Apartments  are  called  cheap  there,  and  five  to  seven 
rooms,  at  from  twenty-five  dollars  to  thirty-five  dol- 
lars a  month,  can  be  gotten  furnished.  But  the 
American  shivers  in  marble  halls,  which  the  small 
stove  or  open  fireplace  can  as  readily  warm  as  they 
could  an  ice  plant,  and  If  there  Is  a  calorifere,  or 
any  system  of  central  heating  by  steam  or  hot  water 
in  pipes,  It  Is  but  a  makeshift,  except  only  In  some 
of  the  great  modern  hotels  in  which  steam  heat  has 
been  installed  on  a  lavish  scale.  Next  to  the  un- 
limited use  of  water  nothing  is  considered  so  extrava- 
gant as  heat. 

Americans  flock  to  Italy,  Impelled  by  the  tradition 
that  comes  to  them  by  way  of  England  that  Italy  has 
a  good  winter  climate.  Northern  Italy  has  probably 
the  worst  winter  climate  of  all  the  Mediterranean 
countries.  Inasmuch  as  it  is  rainy  as  well  as  cold. 
All  of  southern  Europe  seems  bitterly  cold  to  the 
American,  and  the  universal  stone  houses,  always  with 
marble,  stone  or  tiled  floors,  seem  like  sepulchres. 
Frequently  there  are  no  fireplaces  at  all,  and  where 
they  do  exist  are  most  inadequate. 

What  may  be  called  "palace  housekeeping'*  is 
one  of  the  most  common  forms  of  living  in  Italy. 
As  few  of  the  Italian  nobility  are  in  sufficient  funds 
to  keep  up  their  hereditary  palaces  of  a  thousand 
rooms,  they  are  practically  turning  them  into  apart- 


THE  COST  OF  LIVING  ABROAD 


ment  houses,  the  great  size  of  the  edifices  lending 
itself  to  the  sheltering  of  several  households,  which 
after  all  is  going  back  to  their  original  purpose, 
wherein  each  member  of  the  family  when  married 
was  apportioned  cer- 
tain accommodations, 
an  apartment  in  fact, 
under  the  paternal 
roof.  The  price  for 
one  of  these  palace 
apartments  is  gov- 
erned by  their  loca- 
tion and  the  impor- 
tance of  the  family 
who  formerly  occupied 
it.  In  Rome  and  Flor- 
ence they  command 
from  five  hundred  dol- 
lars up  to  two  and 
three  thousand;  as  an 
additional  inducement 
one  often  has  the  satis- 
faction of  living  under  the  same  roof  with  a  princely 
landlord. 

Such  a  palace  apartment  might  mean  anything 
from  ten  to  forty  rooms,  furnished  with  a  certain 
amount  of  antique  fittings,  slightly  moth-eaten  and 
damaged,  to  be  sure,  but  not  more  so  than  the  for- 
tunes of  the  family.  Principally  an  apartment  will 
be  made  up  of  a  series  of  great  reception  rooms,  with 
dim,  cobwebby  comers  and  much  tarnished  gilt  and 


8  THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

painting.  The  marble  floors,  to  be  properly  cov- 
ered in  order  to  ward  off  the  chill,  would  need  the 
contents  of  a  rug  emporium.  The  bedrooms  will  be 
thrust  into  any  dark  nook,  but  this  is  one  of  the  tenets 
of  the  old  and  new  Italian  indifference  to  hygiene. 
Frequently  there  is  nothing  to  suggest  plumbing,  even 
in  its  most  primitive  form.  In  winter,  the  Italian 
expects  an  earthen  scaldini  filled  with  glowing  ashes 
to  heat  a  room  thirty  feet  square,  or  perhaps  an  in- 
efficient iron  stove  that  radiates  more  coal  gas  than 
heat.  One  American  is  known  who  collected  as 
many  scaldini  as  possible,  and  making  a  circle  of  them 
and  sitting  in  the  middle,  was  thus  able  to  keep  fairly 
warm.  Another  with  a  screen  shut  off  a  small 
eighteen-foot  corner,  and,  in  a  measure,  accomplished 
the  same  thing. 

An  apartment  in  Venice  is  a  charming  experience 
in  warm  weather,  but  when  the  snow  flies  through  the 
beautiful  colonnades, — Oh,  no!  In  a  Venetian  pal- 
ace (one  cannot  get  away  from  palaces  in  Italy) 
there  will,  likely  enough,  be  found  a  garage  for  a 
motor  boat  under  the  back  stairs,  though  it  was 
originally  built  for  a  gondola,  a  species  of  craft 
which  is  becoming  extinct  before  the  invasion  of 
modernity. 

There  are  possibilities  in  life  in  Italy  if  one  does 
not  go  there  under  the  delusion  that  it  is  a  com- 
fortable winter  resort.  Even  a  palace  is  within 
reach  of  most  Americans  abroad,  some  sort  of  a 
palace  at  least,  as  might  be  expected  of  a  country 
where  a  maid-of-all-work  can  be  had  for  three  or 


THE  COST  OF  LIVING  ABROAD 


four  dollars  a  month,  and  a  butler  for  twenty  cents 
a  day,  though  the  latter  is  nothing  of  the  specialist 
that  is  his  English  prototype,  for  he  will  do  anything 
from  running  the  automobile  to  preparing  the  morn- 
ing coffee  or  sweeping  out  the  apartment. 

One  American  couple  who  tried  spending  a  winter 
on  the  shores  of  the  Mediterranean,  charmed  by  the 
novelty  of  life  close  to 
the  soil,  spent  a  good  part 
of  their  income,  and  most 
of  their  time,  in  trying  to 
solve  the  question  of  fire 
and  heat.  The  only  fuel 
to  be  had  was  the  roots 
of  olive  trees,  cut  away 
from  the  living  trunk  and 
delivered  in  big  baskets 
brought  on  the  head  of 
a  sturdy  southron  and 
paid  for  by  the  pound. 
The  local  supply  soon  be- 
ing exhausted,  contribu- 
tions were  levied  from 
the  country  round  about, 
and  before  many  weeks 
most  of  the  able-bodied  inhabitants  of  the  little  town 
of  a  thousand  souls  were  engaged  in  the  hunting 
down  of  a  supply  of  burnable  wood. 

These  Americans,  naturally,  it  being  their  first 
wrestle  with  conditions  abroad,  insisted  on  keeping 
warm.     We,  who  had  passed  this  first  acute  stage, 


vWoob 


lo        THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

knew  how  Impossible  this  achievement  was,  and  had 
given  It  up  long  ago.  It  was  like  foraging  for  an 
army  corps.  Finally  the  mayor  formally  waited 
upon  them,  and  said  that  the  olive  crop  was  In  danger 
and  the  wood  would  have  to  be  Imported  from  a 
neighbouring  commune  at  Increased  cost,  whereupon 


the  couple  gave  up  the  struggle  and  went  back  to  a 
Paris  hotel.  One  of  the  traditions  of  that  little 
community  to-day — the  story  that  is  told  to  all  new- 
comers— Is  about  the  crazy  foreigners  who  burnt 
ten  dollars'  worth  of  wood  a  week. 

It  Is  thus  shown  that  in  the  most  primitive  en- 
vironment the  cost  of  living  can  only  be  kept  down 
by  doing  as  the  native  does  when  he  wants  to  keep 


THE  COST  OF  LIVING  ABROAD  ii 

warm ;  sit  on  the  sunny  side  of  a  wall  with  one's  feet 
on  a  chaiifrette  full  of  hot  embers. 

This  Is  not  what  most  Americans  want,  even 
though  conditions  may  not  always  be  so  onerous,  so 
It's  either  Paris  or  London  for  most  of  them,  or 
Berlin,  which  has  leaped  Into  American  favour  with 
much  vividness  since  the  German  Emperor  has  In- 
cluded so  many  Americans  on  his  visiting  list. 

Paris  as  a  dwelling  place  for  Americans  abroad 
is  still  in  the  lead,  and  an  apartment  In  the  "  City 
of  a  Thousand  and  One  Nights  "  is  still  the  acme 
of  enchantment  and  the  acme  of  price  as  well. 

Circling  about  the  Bols  de  Boulogne,  the  Quartier 
of  the  aristocratic  Etoile,  the  neighbourhood  of  the 
Champs-Elysees  and  about  the  Pare  Monceau,  are 
the  highest-priced  and  most  luxurious  modern  apart- 
ment houses.  Built  in  the  style  of  modern  French 
Renaissance,  with  much  sculptured  ornament,  they 
are  charming  to  look  at  and  much  more  beautiful  in 
adornment  than  most  things  of  the  kind  else- 
where. Inside  they  are  bien  Francaise,  with  an  opu- 
lence of  gilding,  mirrors  and  cleverly  arranged  salons; 
they  of  course  have  the  latest  sanitation  and  bath- 
room installations,  but  prices  will  be  quite  as  high  as 
the  same  thing  at  home,  if  not  more  so,  for  there 
again  will  be  endless  array  of  small  expenses  and 
taxes  which  are  always  added  to  the  rent  in  France. 
Even  on  this  basis  one  may  not  always  count  on  an  ele- 
vator nor  any  general,  or  "  central,"  heating  system. 

Just  outside  the  gates  of  Paris  are  to  be  had 
moderate-priced  apartments,   in  Neullly,   Passy  and 


12        THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

other  suburbs,  where  for  twenty-five  dollars  a  month 
or  even  less,  five  rooms  and  a  bath  may  be  had,  the 
rooms  large  and  airy,  and  really  far  superior  in 
arrangement  to  a  flat  at  double  or  treble  the  price 
in  America.  Sometimes  such  an  apartment  may  be 
had  heated,  but  after  a  more  or  less  inefficient  fashion, 
which  the  American  will  be  obliged  to  eke  out  by 
individual  fires,  either  in  a  stove,  or  by  coal  or  wood 
burned  in  a  grate.  A  point  to  be  remembered  in 
this  connection  is  that  all  household  supplies,  even 
kerosene  oil  for  the  lamps,  not  to  say  butter  and 
eggs  for  the  table,  are  considerably  less  in  price  out- 
side the  walls  of  Paris  than  within.  The  octroi  tax 
is  not  levied  outside  the  fortifications. 

These  cheaper  apartments  are  often  occupied  by 
a  better  class  of  people  than  would  be  found  in  Amer- 
ican flats  of  the  same  rental.  The  Continental  habit 
of  the  central  courtyard  adds  considerably  to  the 
facilities  for  making  a  satisfactory  arrangement  of 
the  rooms  in  an  apartment  house.  Halls  and  stair- 
ways are  spacious  and  well-lighted,  and,  it  must  be 
confessed,  they  are  usually  better  cared  for  than 
at  home  and  the  smell  of  food  is  agreeably  absent 
from  the  public  halls.  It  is  possible  that  the  hooded 
fireplace  with  which  the  French  kitchen  is  usually 
fitted  is  responsible  for  this. 

Americans  who  come  to  Paris  to  settle  for  any 
length  of  time  all  seem  to  want  to  live  in  a  fashion- 
able neighbourhood,  and  as  near  the  centre  of  shops 
and  life  as  they  can.  The  same  is  true  of  the  aver- 
age  French   Paris   household   of  moderate   means, 


THE  COST  OF  LIVING  ABROAD  13 

hence  apartment  life  is  universal.  Only  millionaires 
and  the  blue-blood  aristocrats  of  the  Faubourg  Saint- 
Germain,  can  afford  to  live  in  houses  inside  the  gates 
of  Paris. 

In  the  Etoile  quarter  a  small,  furnished  apartment 
of  four  rooms,  a  kitchen  and  bathroom  is  not  unduly 
dear  at  fifty  dollars,  but  at  this  price  it  would  be 
situated  on  the  courtyard,  which  might  prove  noisy 
if  garages  for  automobiles  and  stables  for  horses, 
at  the  disposal  of  tenants,  were  on  the  ground  floor; 
besides  a  courtyard  is  usually  a  mid-day  gossiping 
place  for  all  the  servants,  and  if  there  were  no 
elevator,  as  likely  enough  there  might  not  be,  a  con- 
stant going  and  coming  on  the  stairs  and  through  the 
corridors  might  prove  a  considerable  disadvantage, 
to  avoid  which  it  might  often  be  considered  worth 
while  to  pay  more.  Still,  the  offer  of  such  accom- 
modation is  not  unusual,  nor  is  the  price  nor  location. 

The  glamour  that  hangs  about  the  Latin  Quarter 
induces  many  to  forego  fashion  and  the  boulevards 
for  the  cheaper  Rive  Gauche,  where  the  best  moder- 
ate-priced apartments  In  Paris  can  be  had.  On  the 
newly  opened  Boulevard  Raspall  are  many  modern 
apartment  buildings  that  compare  favourably  with 
those  on  the  other  side  of  the  Seine. 

Cheap  living  In  Paris  means  existence  in  the  con- 
ventional old-time  Parisian  apartment,  whether  it  be 
on  the  "  Right  "  or  "  Left  Bank,"  the  climbing  up 
of  any  number  of  stairs  (and  French  stairways  are 
designed  on  long  lines)  with  no  bathroom,  no  mod- 
ern   sanitary   fittings    worth    mentioning,    no    dumb 


14        THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

waiter  to  bring  up  your  groceries  and  no  steam  heat, 
only  expensive  sticks  of  wood  with  which  to  warm 
up  a  Paris  winter.  The  compensating  feature  is 
that  a  bonne  a  tout  faire  will  do  all  the  work  of  an 
eight-room  apartment  at  forty  francs  a  month. 

The  entrance  door  may  have  a  vegetable  shop  on 
one  side,  trailing  out  over  the  sidewalk,  and  a  laun- 
dry on  the  other,  and  a  cafe  opposite  that  only  gets 
into  full  swing  at  midnight.  But  isn't  all  this  the 
picturesque  Europe  that  we  go  in  search  of? 

The  cost  of  living  in  Germany,  once  the  most 
frugal  country  in  which  to  make  a  home  in  the 
calculation  of  the  visiting  foreigner,  has  risen  enor- 
mously in  the  last  ten  years.  The  increasing  wealth 
in  Germany  makes  for  display  and  a  luxurious  style 
of  living  undreamed  of  in  the  old  days  even  by 
wealthy  Germans.  First-class  apartments  in  Berlin 
are  the  equal  of  those  in  Paris  in  price  and  elegance. 
Houses  are  rented  on  the  basis  of  so  much  for  each 
room,  thus  is  the  price  of  a  house  regulated  by  law 
beyond  dickering.  The  housekeeper  in  Germany 
must  get  used  to  a  rather  irritating  oversight  of  her 
domestic  life  by  police,  which  rather  makes  one  feel 
as  if  one  is  bonded  out  on  good  behaviour,  and  it 
behooves  the  American  entering  the  field  of  home 
life  in  Germany  to  get  posted  as  to  the  regulations, 
and  observe  them.  They  extend  from  the  supervi- 
sion of  one's  servants  to  the  regulation  of  the  hours 
of  piano  practice. 

The  police  are  Germany's  real  rulers,  and  their 
power  is  sometimes  even  greater,   as,  unlike  most 


THE  COST  OF  LIVING  ABROAD  15 

rulers,  they  come  in  close  contact  with  the  people. 
The  increased  cost  of  living  has  brought  about  the 
general  practice  of  renting  rooms  with  a  German 
private  family.  This  offers  a  solution  of  living  on 
moderate  lines  to  the  stranger,  and  avoids  the  as- 
sumption of  much  serious  responsibility.  Life  in  a 
small  town  in  Germany  to-day  is  subject  to  no  small 
extent  to  the  advance  in  the  cost  of  living,  but  can 
be  made  moderate  enough  if  the  lively  American  can 
stand  the  stagnation  and  deadly  dulness  and  the  rigid- 
ity of  conventional  social  intercourse. 

Dusseldorf  is  one  of  the  most  charming  and  mod- 
ern of  the  smaller  German  cities.  Its  boulevards  are 
as  well  laid  out  as  those  of  Paris  and  are  lined  with 
spacious,  attractive  apartment  buildings,  but  their 
rentals  would  certainly  rise  to  the  par  of  those  of 
Berlin  or  Dresden. 

The  cost  of  housekeeping  abroad,  on  the  Continent 
in  particular,  is  affected  not  a  little  by  the  drain  on 
one's  purse  by  the  occasional,  and  annual,  tips.  In 
France,  the  domestic  pourhoire  is  an  item  to  be  reck- 
oned with  quite  as  much  as  that  of  rent  and  taxes. 
The  concierge  expects  an  honorarium  when  the  tenant 
takes  possession  of  the  apartment,  and  this  is  not  left 
to  the  tenant's  caprice,  but  is  based  on  a  percentage 
of  the  rental,  with  an  additional  twenty  to  fifty  francs 
at  the  jour  de  Van — New  Year's.  Day. 

The  first  day  of  the  new  year  brings  a  regular 
riot  of  giving  of  presents.  Those  who  expect  to  be 
remembered  are  without  end.  There  is  the  postman, 
the  telegraph  messenger,  porters  from  the  shops  who 


i6        THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

may  have  brought  your  parcels  during  the  year,  the 
baker's  boy,  the  milk  woman,  every  one  who  has 
rendered  the  slightest  service,  to  say  nothing  of  the 
servants  of  the  house.  Every  one  demands  a  cadeau 
as  a  right,  its  value  usually  estimated  on  a  tariff 
formulated  by  custom,  and  if  you  expect  services  to 
be  rendered  to  proceed  smoothly  the  coming  year  you 
meet  the  expected  demands  as  nearly  as  your  patience 
and  pocketbook  will  allow.  The  petty  graft  of  the 
pourboire  is  everywhere. 

Compared  to  the  Continent,  prices  are  higher  In 
London,  where  apartments  of  the  first  rank  are  often 
grouped  into  what  are  called  "  Mansions,'*  while 
anything  under  this  in  the  scale  is  reckoned  as  just 
a  plain  flat.  English  people  are  aghast  when  they 
hear  one  mention  a  thousand  pounds  a  year  as  the 
rent  of  an  apartment  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Hyde 
Park  or  elsewhere  in  the  aristocratic  West  End  cen- 
tring around  Buckingham  Palace.  Such  rentals  are 
not  uncommon,  but  do  not  comprehend  anything  at 
all  to  be  compared  with  the  modern  ideas  which  have 
been  incorporated  lately  into  American  apartments 
at  a  similar  figure. 

In  spite  of  the  advantage  that  the  flat  possesses 
over  the  house  as  a  labour-saving  proposition,  the  true 
British  housekeeper  would  much  prefer  the  latter.  It 
gives  one  a  more  substantial  position,  for  in  England 
there  is  still  the  feeling  that  life  In  a  flat  is  a  menace 
to  the  sanctity  of  the  home. 

Life  in  London  *'  chambers  "  has  romantic  associ- 
ations with  the  old  Inns  of  Court  and  ancient  and 


THE  COST  OF  LIVING  ABROAD  17 

somnolent  city  squares,  where  one  can  live  in  the 
atmosphere  of  dead  memories  and  associations, 
features  that  tend  to  add  considerable  to  the  charm 
of  London  for  the  American. 

Usually  "  chambers "  are  to  be  had  at  a  cheap 
rental,  but  also  with  a  few  attendant  disadvantages. 
In  the  Adelphi  Terrace,  a  little  backwater  just  off  the 
Strand  that  the  flood  of  modernising  which  is  sweep- 
ing over  London  threatens  annually  to  blot  out,  one 
can  still  hope  to  find  vacant  "  chambers  "  in  a  house 
decorated  by  the  famous  Adam  Brothers.  Before 
the  door,  as  like  as  not,  will  be  found  an  iron  stand- 
ard into  which  the  link-boys  once  thrust  their  blazing 
torches.  The  whole  Adelphi  region  is  redolent  of 
memories  of  Dickens,  who  in  his  youth  played  about 
the  great  storage  vaults  that  burrow  under  the  Ter- 
race from  the  Thames  Embankment  below.  It  is  a 
quaintly  interesting  district.  Here  you  may  see  a 
house  once  inhabited  by  Roger  Bacon,  and  across  the 
way  is  still  visible  a  certain  brass  door-knocker  which 
figured  in  one  of  Dickens'  most  famous  tales.  In 
almost  any  of  these  houses  are  to  be  found  exquisitely 
carved  marble  mantels.  The  walls  are  of  stone,  with 
a  dressing  of  wallpaper  stretched  over  cloth,  which 
wavers  in  ghostly  fashion  in  the  too-frequent  currents 
of  air,  like  the  ancient  wall-hung  tapestries  of  a 
haunted  castle. 

From  the  windows  of  many  of  these  houses  one 
may  look  out  over  the  Embankment  Gardens  and  the 
foggy  stretches  of  the  Thames.  The  Royal  Chapel 
of  Savoy  is  a  near  neighbour,  and  ghosts  of  Dickens' 


i8        THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

characters  float  around  every  corner.  On  a  winter's 
day  at  four  o'clock  the  muffin  man,  ringing  his  bell, 
still  makes  his  round  of  the  district.  Muffins  and 
crumpets  for  afternoon  tea  at  twopence  each  are  a 
pleasant  interlude  and  quite  in  the  spirit  of  this  old- 
time  atmosphere. 

Hereabout  one  ought  to  be  able  to  find  five  rooms, 
distributed  over  two  unevenly  laid  floors,  for  five  to 
six  pounds  a  month,  which  is  not  out  of  proportion 
for  such  genuine  historic  associations  as  the  rental 
includes.  To  discount  this  there  will  be  a  lack  of 
water,  hot  and  cold,  except  that  which  flows  inter- 
mittently from  an  adapted  kitchen  sink,  and  your 
heat,  what  does  not  go  up  the  chimney,  is  all  radiated 
from  grate  fires.  In  these  old  buildings  there  are 
no  elevators,  no  dumb  waiters  even,  and  coal,  wood 
and  everything  else  must  be  lugged  up  the  front 
stairs,  though  plenty  of  willing  hands  are  to  be  found, 
and  at  a  small  price,  to  do  one's  fetching  and  carry- 
ing. Ashes  and  garbage  must  be  carried  down  to  a 
tiny,  well-like  courtyard,  and  within  the  week  the 
dustman  will  come  along  to  remove  it,  of  course 
demanding  a  tip.  You  may  ask  why,  but  he  couldn't 
tell  you  if  he  would,  except  that  it  is  in  accordance 
with  precedent,  the  thing  that  governs  all  walks  of 
English  life. 

The  tenants  collectively  contribute  towards  the 
cost  of  the  lighting  of  the  front  hall  and  of  the 
keeping  of  it  clean,  the  tenants  of  each  floor  attend- 
ing to  their  own  hall. 

The  cost  of  living  abroad  is  the  cost  of  the  small 


THE  COST  OF  LIVING  ABROAD  19 

things  of  life,  and  it  Is  their  multiplicity  that  fritters 
away  the  time  and  temper  of  the  housekeeper,  more 
so  in  Britain  than  elsewhere.  Laundry  work  is 
wretchedly  done  all  over  the  British  Isles  and  at 
prices  quite  up  to  the  American  standard,  while  the 
clothes  come  home  of  a  shade  that  matches  the  Lon- 
don fog,  and  fresh  curtains  must  be  put  up  each  week 
on  account  of  this  same  phenomenon.  Thus  sighs 
the  London  housekeeper. 

Sub-letting  is  a  common  practice  in  England,  but 
is  sometimes  prolific  of  dire  annoyance.  You  may 
arrive  some  day  at  your  sub-rented  flat  to  find  the 
ballif[  In  possession.  The  law  provides  that  if  the 
original  tenant  fails  to  pay  the  rent,  that  the  upper 
landlord  can  attach  the  belongings  of  whoever  may 
be  living  there  at  the  time.  There  may  be  no  re- 
dress, no  extenuating  circumstances,  and  you  may  find 
yourself  in  the  unpleasant  predicament  of  having  to 
pay  rent  twice  over  in  order  to  release  your  belong- 
ings. 

Of  the  smaller  London  flat  much  the  same  may 
be  said  as  of  those  on  the  Continent.  The  various 
rooms  are  usually  conveniently  placed,  and  everything 
has  not  been  sacrificed  to  the  economy  of  space.  The 
English  still  treat  themselves  liberally  when  it  comes 
to  fresh  air. 

An  inconvenient  British  custom  Is  that  the  out- 
going tenant  carries  away  the  gas  fixtures  and  the 
piping  as  well,  and  In  Scotland  the  one  moving  out 
takes  away  even  the  grates.  This  of  course  pre- 
sumes that  they  brought  them  with  them  when  they 


20        THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

became  a  tenant ;  still  the  inconvenience  exists  for  the 
incomer,  and  worst  of  all,  he  has  to  contend  with 
the  plumber  for  a  period  ranging  anywhere  from  a 
week  to  a  month,  which  of  Itself  is  discouraging; 
besides  there  will  be  damaged  wallpaper  and  chipped 
paint,  which  means  the  introduction  of  various  other 
classes  of  the  British  workman  into  one's  daily  life 
for  a  more  or  less  extended  period. 

The  British  workman,  for  whatever  species  of 
labour  you  have  to  call  him  in,  is  another  one  of 
the  things  that  increases  the  cost  and  annoyance  of 
living  in  England.  He  is  the  curse  of  the  home  and 
the  home-maker,  and  In  his  most  highly  trained  form, 
the  most  tyrannical  labour  unionist  in  the  civilised 
world.  He  does  his  work  In  Inconceivably  uneco- 
nomical ways,  for  he  is  slothful  and  inattentive,  and 
unabashed  will  ask  you  for  a  tip  when  he  finishes, 
though  more  often  you  have  to  give  him  one  midway 
in  order  to  get  him  to  finish,  all  the  time  running 
the  risk  that  he  will  break  an  arm  or  a  leg  during  the 
job,  so  that  you  will  have  to  contribute  towards  his 
support  pending  his  recovery.  He  will  build  you  a 
house  at  his  agreed  upon  price,  but  will  ultimately 
send  you  in  an  additional  bill  for  coal  used  in  keeping 
himself  warm  while  he  was  at  work.  When  the 
British  workman  comes  in  at  the  door  peace  flies  out 
of  the  window,  while  to  get  finished  with  him  and 
get  him  out  of  the  house  usually  means  a  process  of 
law  if  the  job  is  of  any  magnitude. 

For  the  moderate  consumer  living  Is  dear  in  Eng- 
land, and  cheap  living,  like  everything  that  is  cheap 


The  Water  Supply 


THE  COST  OF  LIVING  ABROAD  21 

in  the  tight  little  isle,  is  bad.  One  can  live  as  well 
perhaps  in  London  as  anywhere,  but  one  must  be 
prepared  to  pay  for  It.  In  the  last  five  years  the 
necessities  of  food  have  gone  up  approximately  one- 
fourth  to  one-third  in  price.  One  of  the  commonest 
of  causes  for  this  hoisting  of  prices  comes  from  the 
demand  for  things  exotic  from  America.  Grape- 
fruit and  even  bananas  a  few  years  ago  were  un- 
known in  London,  now  every  one  has  them  and  pays 
the  price.  When  the  menu  palls,  many  a  London 
housekeeper  goes  to  Jackson's  in  Piccadilly  for 
American  groceries  (In  Paris  to  Prunier's),  and  deli- 
cacies from  overseas.  The  American  will  think  it 
worth  while,  but  she  is  doubling  expenses,  and,  though 
the  joy  may  be  doubled,  there  will  be  a  disturbing 
Influence  brought  into  life  abroad  which  was  not 
what  she  presumably  came  over  for. 

Nothing  Inflates  a  foreign  hotel  bill  so  much  as 
tampering  with  the  menu,  and  the  American  woman 
abroad  is  the  greatest  of  sinners  in  this  respect;  it  is 
true,  too,  that  she  generally  gets  worsted  in  the  pro- 
ceedings. Anything  that  attempts  to  alter  the  routine 
menu  of  a  hotel  meal  affects  prices  as  hydrogen 
affects  a  balloon. 

When  an  American  party  comes  to  table  d'hote 
at  a  hotel  in  a  large  country  town  In  France  and 
orders  cafe-au-lait,  and  wonders  why  such  a  simple 
request  creates  something  near  a  riot,  and  why  It 
usually  comes  to  be  served  them  when  they  are 
nearly  through  their  meal,  there's  a  reason.  The 
head  waiter  goes  to  the  proprietor  with  the  proposi- 


21        THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

tion,  and  this  takes  both  of  them  to  the  kitchen,  to 
appease  the  wrath  of  the  chef  who  has  been  inter- 
rupted in  the  serving  of  a  complicated  dinner,  and 
induce  him  to  leave  his  sauces  long  enough  to  make 
the  coffee  and  send  the  scullery  boy  to  hunt  up  milk 
outside.  Every  one  is  just  the  least  bit  annoyed,  but 
meantime  the  whole  dining-room  full  of  people  has 
got  interested  and  are  still  more  so  when  the  party 
comes  to  drink  the  concoction  with  their  dinner. 
The  members  of  the  party  themselves  begin  to  won- 
der when  they  come  to  pay  their  bill,  for  the  addi- 
tional charge  for  the  coffee  will  be  quite  a  third  of 
the  total.  The  proprietor  shrugs  his  shoulders  and 
tells  them  that  if  they  want  to  take  to-morrow  morn- 
ing^s  breakfast  with  dinner  the  night  before  that  he 
is  willing  to  serve  it  that  way,  but  that  those  who 
do  the  ordering  must  pay  for  it.  This  they  do,  and 
go  off  grumbling  at  the  way  foreigners  stick  Amer- 
icans. 

Another  disregard  for  economy  is  to  order  a  few 
dishes  off  the  regular  table  d'hote  bill,  under  the 
impression  that  it  will  be  cheaper.  In  such  a  case  the 
plats  will  be  served  and  charged  for  a  la  carte,  at  a 
price  which  will  invariably  be  more  than  that  of  the 
regular  dinner. 

Are  the  palatial  apartments  and  hotels  which  are 
going  up  in  the  capital  cities  of  the  Old  World  due 
to  the  American  demand,  as  is  so  frequently  claimed? 
Probably  thirty  thousand  Americans  live  in  Paris,  a 
considerably  less  number  in  Berlin,  but  quite  as  many 
in  London.     This  influx,  or  invasion,  certainly  has 


THE  COST  OF  UVING  ABROAD  23 

something  to  do  with  the  demand  for  what  the 
American  first  took  to  as  luxuries,  but  soon  came  to 
consider  as  necessities.  The  lavishly  convenient 
American  way  of  living  has  had  much  to  do  with 
the  change  that  has  come  over  the  European  caterer 
to  the  foreigner.  Now  that  he  has  learned  the  trick 
and  is  working  on  his  own  account,  adapting  it  to 
his  own  needs,  even  though  the  pace  be  slow,  it  is 
still  evident  that  it  has  come  as  a  result  of  a  first 
desire  to  please  an  American  clientele. 

The  patriotic  Frenchman  dramatically  points  to 
the  big  hotels  which  have  gone  up  in  Paris  during 
the  last  few  years,  and  exclaims,  "  It  is  for  you 
Americans  that  these  luxurious  establishments  have 
been  built ;  it  is  you  who  are  coming  here  in  our  midst 
and  demoralising  our  own  people  with  your  dollars." 

There  is  no  use  in  asserting  that  you  only  wish  to 
make  use  of  his  beautiful  and  attractive  land  at  a 
moderate  expenditure  of  money,  and  that  there  are 
plenty  of  other  Americans  with  the  same  modest 
desires.  He  will  not  look  at  it  that  way,  perhaps 
he  cannot  be  expected  to,  and  for  a  fact,  it  is  not 
at  all  improbable  that  the  American  invasion  has 
done  something  towards  increasing  the  expenses  of 
the  Frenchman's  own  cost  of  living,  just  as  the  pro- 
gressive Italian  is  beginning  to  complain  that  the  sen- 
timental traveller  refuses  to  regard  his  country  in 
any  other  light  than  a  "  has-been." 

It  is  beginning  to  dawn  upon  the  American, 
whether  living  or  touring  abroad,  that  things  are  cost- 
ing them  more  than  the  native  who  is  doing  the  same 


24        THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

thing,  and  bitter  complaints  are  becoming  frequent. 
There  is  some  justice  in  this.  Their  demands  are 
more  exacting,  for  rarely,  most  rarely,  is  the  Amer- 
ican content  to  take  things  as  found,  and  often  at- 
tempts to  make  over  existing  arrangements,  result 
in  advancing  the  cost. 

An  American  will  pay  fifty  per  cent  more  at  a 
hotel  and  get  no  more  of  value  than  will  the  German 
or  Belgian.  Principally  this  is  because  she,  or  he, 
has,  according  to  taste,  sought  to  improve  upon  the 
menu  or  the  service.  Under  such  circumstances  the 
custom  of  the  hotel,  naturally,  is  to  cover  this  trouble 
with  a  blanket  of  higher  prices.  Another  mislead- 
ing American  trait  tending  to  bewilder  the  European 
in  his  effort  to  cater  to  their  wants  is  the  wrath  of 
the  American  over  small  impositions  when  he  seems 
so  ready,  as  a  rule,  to  pay  extravagantly  for  real 
luxuries.  It  is  in  trying  to  reconcile  these  extremes 
that  many  of  the  troubles  that  hamper  the  free 
movements  of  the  American  abroad  arise.  The 
average  American  will  pay  a  straightaway  bill  meekly 
enough,  but  when  a  kur-tax  is  added  at  the  end,  and 
he  learns  that  this  is  a  local  custom  for  the  privilege 
of  listening  to  the  band  while  stopping  at  some  Ger- 
man spa,  immediate  resentment  arises;  a  grumble 
ensues,  too,  when  lights  and  attendance  are  charged 
for.  Still  the  foreigner  with  lower  standards  goes 
on  wondering  why  one  is  willing  to  spend  thirty 
dollars  on  souvenirs,  which  he  knows  are  of  no  real 
value,  and  protests  at  the  added  trifle  of  thirty  cents. 

Certainly  there  is  a  growing  tendency  to  exploit 


THE  COST  OF  LIVING  ABROAD  25 

the  American  whose  very  generosity  and  liberality 
have  aroused  the  cupidity  of  a  people  who  are  un- 
trained to  this  easy,  open-handed  dealing.  How 
often  is  the  American  seen  to  double  some  price  with 
the  remark,  "  that's  not  much,"  and  a  feeling  that 
these  "  poor  people  have  a  hard  time  anyway."  A 
Swiss  child  holds  up  a  handful  of  wild  raspberries 
to  the  window  of  a  train  which  has  stopped  at  a 
small  station;  she  has  picked  them  by  the  wayside 
and  timidly  offers  them  for  a  few  cents.  "  Oh," 
says  the  Impulsive  American  woman,  "  that's  too 
cheap,  here's  a  franc."  The  child  understands  the 
money  If  not  the  words.  This  is  a  pleasant  little 
incident  produced  In  the  exuberance  of  a  holiday 
spirit,  but  the  lady  should  not  complain  when  next 
she  comes  that  way  that  her  wild  berries  can  only 
be  got  for  a  franc — It  is  she  who  has  made  the 
price. 

Does  the  presence  of  Americans  cause  an  increase 
in  prices?  Take  Carlsbad,  one  of  the  most  popular 
"  cures "  with  Americans.  Last  year  there  were 
some  three  thousand  Americans  who  took  the  '*  cure  " 
there  and  at  Marlenbad,  Its  neighbour,  and  another 
three  thousand  or  thereabouts  passed  through,  stop- 
ping en  route  long  enough  to  take  the  waters  in 
some  form  or  another  and  buy  some  specimens  of 
Bohemian  glassware  as  souvenirs.  They  must  have 
left  in  the  neighbourhood  of  five  or  six  hundred 
thousand  dollars  as  the  total  of  their  expenditure, 
Including  mere  unnecessary  trifles.  It  Is  this  that  has 
given  Carlsbad  rank  as  one  of  the  most  expensive 


26        THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

places  in  Europe.     American  visitors  to  foreign  spas 
are  usually  of  the  wealthy  class. 

To  live  comfortably  in  a  southern  European 
climate,  on  the  Riviera,  is  possible  on  almost  any 
scale.  A  Riviera  villa  can  be  got  for  a  year,  often 
furnished,  for  the  price  of  a  month's  rent  of  the  aver- 
age New  York  apartment.  The  subject  is  treated 
in  extenso  elsewhere,  and  it  is  not  intended  to  refer 
here  to  that  super-luxuriousness  with  which  the  gay 
world  of  Paris  and  St.  Petersburg  surrounds  itself 
in  the  magnificent  and  often  palatial  villas  of  Beau- 
lieu  and  Cap  Saint  Jean. 

Modern  villas,  for  rent  by  the  season,  are  going 
up  all  over  Europe.  In  some  of  the  Belgian  water- 
ing places  a  small  villa  after  the  old  Flemish  style 
can  be  had  for  as  little  as  two  hundred  dollars  for 
the  season,  and  in  Switzerland,  modern  chalets,  pat- 
terned after  the  genuine  old  thing,  are  being  erected 
near  all  the  great  resorts.  Rentals  are  by  no  means 
as  low  as  in  Belgium,  the  cheapest  being  perhaps 
four  or  five  times  the  price. 

Where  can  one  live  cheaply  abroad?  Naturally 
this  is  more  nearly  possible  in  the  small  town,  or  in 
a  purely  country  neighbourhood,  but  since  the  average 
American  can  only  live  happily  in  colonies  this  is 
usually  not  to  be  thought  of.  It  is  the  exceptional 
person  who  has  the  courage  to  break  away  from  the 
companionship  of  one's  own  people,  and  the  incentive 
for  doing  so  must  usually  be  greater  than  the  saving 
of  a  few  dollars.  Large  numbers  of  Americans  are 
going  about  Europe  looking  for  "  rest  and  quiet," 


THE  COST  OF  LIVING  ABROAD  27 

but  their  search  generally  fetches  them  up  not  too 
far  away  from  the  divertlsements  of  more  or  less 
populous  and  lively  centres. 

Put  the  average  American  woman  into  a  little 
provincial  community  In  a  foreign  country  and  it  is 
like  putting  her  In  jail.  Dependent  upon  local  soci- 
ety for  her  chief  entertainment  the  novelty  of  un- 
usual surroundings  soon  becomes  stale,  whether  one 
Is  living  In  a  restored  feudal  castle  or  an  adapted 
farmhouse  that  has  caught  one's  fancy.  Like  the 
amateur  gardener  with  his  plant,  she  pulls  herself  up 
periodically  to  see  If  she  has  really  taken  root,  and 
is  perhaps  relieved  to  find  that  the  roots  have 
not  struck  in,  and  that  she  can,  when  she  will, 
move  on  to  a  more  congenial  environment  without 
remorse. 

To  be  happy  living  in  a  foreign  land  requires  an 
absorbing  occupation  or  remarkable  inner  resources 
in  order  to  be  able  to  cut  adrift  from  a  conventional 
home-land  existence  and  adjust  one's  outlook  to  the 
viewpoint  of  the  country. 

The  way,  then,  to  live  cheaply  abroad  is  to  shun 
the  fashionable  neighbourhoods,  particularly  those 
which  have  been  made  so  largely  by  one's  own  people, 
and  to  take  an  old  house,  or  apartment,  rather  than 
the  newest  that  one  can  find.  After  all,  for  what 
does  one  go  to  Europe  for  but  the  old? 

One  should  learn  to  walk  upstairs,  to  patronise 
the  ambulant  bath  that  is  brought  hot  to  your  door, 
the  public  baths,  or  learn  the  acrobatic  feat  of  bath- 
ing in  two  inches  of  water  in  an  exaggerated  soup 


2B        THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

plate.  One  should  not  worry  over  the  kind  of  en- 
trance which  the  apartment  house  may  possess,  or 
what  rank  in  the  scale  of  fashion  the  neighbourhood 
may  have.  The  actual  question  of  surroundings  does 
not  make  very  much  difference  in  Europe;  one's 
social  status  is  not  reckoned  or  recognised  by  her 
geographical  location,   and   anyway,   the  temporary 


sojourner  should  be  glad  to  put  it  all  down  to  the 
credit  of  new  experiences. 

What  really  hides  behind  this  excuse  of  the  search 
abroad  for  an  economical  style  of  living  is  first  of 
all  a  feeling  that  there  should  be  an  excuse  for  one's 
peripatetic  vagaries.  A  money  consideration  can 
always  be  understood,  but  the  pivotal  motive  is  the 
same  as  that  which  induces  one  to  turn  from  a  noisy 
street  into  a  garden  of  old-fashioned  flowers.  The 
charm  of  a  more  tranquil  life,  with  simpler  pleasures. 


THE  COST  OF  LIVING  ABROAD  29 

is  an  attraction  which  will  often  serve  as  a  temporary 
excuse  for  one's  not  remaining  amid  their  altogether 
too-practical  home  civilisation. 

It  is  for  the  American  woman  abroad  to  cherish 
this  great  market  of  charm  and  fascination,  and  above 
all  not  spoil  it  by  introducing  the  extravagant  modern- 
ities from  which  she  is  trying  to  escape. 


SERmNTS 

e 
y*!SGrvant  PuGstio 


SIGNS  OF  UNREST  IN  THE  DOMESTIC  WORLD 

PRIVATE  SERVANTS 

ENGLISH  SERVANTS  AND  SERVICE 

THE  ENGLISH  HOUSEKEEPER'S  POINT  OF  VIEW 

THE  "  LADY  HELP  " 

WORKINGS  OF  THE  ENGLISH  DOMESTIC  MACHINE 

THE  CHEAP  BELGIAN  SERVANT  AND  THE  ENERGETIC 

DUTCH  MAID 
FRENCH  SERVANTS 

*'  BONNE  A  TOUT  FAIRE  "  AND  HER  DUTIES 
FRENCH  HOUSEHOLD  ECONOMICS 
CUISINIERE  AND  VALET  DE  CHAMBRE 
RESPONSIBILITY  OF  THE  FRENCH  HOUSEKEEPER 
LOW     MORAL      STATUS      OF      EUROPEAN      DOMESTIC 

SERVANTS 
PICTURESQUE  NURSEMAIDS 
THE  ARISTOCRATIC  "  NOUNOU  " 
THE  SOUBRETTE  IN  REAL  LIFE 

SCHEDULE  OF  DAY's  WORK  IN  A  PARIS  HOUSEHOLD 
HARD-WORKING  GERMAN  WOMAN  SERVANT 
GOOD,  BUT  UNSYMPATHETIC,  SWISS  SERVANTS 
HAPPY-GO-LUCKY  ITALIAN  MAID-OF-ALL-WORK 
PUBLIC  SERVANTS 
CAFE  GARCON 

PERSONNEL  OF  THE  BIG  EUROPEAN  HOTEI, 
VERSATILE  HALL  PORTER 


II 


SERVANTS  AND  THE  SERVANT 
QUESTION 

There  Is  a  servant  question  In  Europe.  Students 
of  domestic  economics,  reading  between  the  lines,  say 
that  there  are  significant  signs  of  unrest  among  the 
serving  classes.  To  the  uninitiated,  however,  the 
usual  problems  of  domestic  service  seem  largely  non- 
existent; obviously,  they  have  not  passed  beyond  the 
stage  of  symptoms.  Good,  capable,  abundant  and 
cheap  (according  to  American  standards)  servants 
can  still  be  had  all  over  Europe. 

Service  is  respectable,  and  often  hereditary,  and 
In  the  matter  of  treating  servants,  monarchial  Europe, 
that  is  Continental  Europe,  is  more  democratic  than 
America.  In  the  middle-class  European  family,  while 
the  servants  perform  menial  work  of  drudgery  under 
conditions  unthinkable  in  our  land  of  super-conveni- 
ences, they  are  usually  treated  more  as  one  of  the 
family  which  they  serve  than  here.  It  may  be  this, 
quite  as  much  as  tradition  and  need,  that  makes  serv- 
ants contented  with  their  obviously  onerous  lot  on 
the  Continent,  and  keeps  them  for  years,  or  for  a 
lifetime,  in  the  same  employ. 

From  England  come  the  most  formal  complaints. 
This  is  but  natural  in  a  land  where  personal  service 

33 


34        THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

has  been  brought  so  near  perfection.  The  more 
nearly  perfect  a  machine,  the  more  noticeable  any 
flaw  in  its  operation.  ''  Servants  are  too  independ- 
ent,'* says  the  English  mistress,  "  they  are  becom- 
ing more  difiicult  to  get,  and  every  year  are  demand- 
ing higher  wages."  "  They  are  spoilt,''  continues 
the  housekeeper,  forgetting  that  it  is  she  who  is  the 
spoilt  one.  All  this  may  be  true,  but  English  serv- 
ants are  still  the  best  examples  of  the  personal  re- 
tainer. 

The  English  servant  has  no  wish  to  be  anything 
but  a  servant.  The  process  of  "  improving  his  con- 
dition "  never  goes  beyond  his  desire  for  improve- 
ment. The  apparent  unrest  simply  means  that  there 
is  a  movement  among  the  serving  classes  for  an 
amelioration  of  the  conditions  under  which  they  work 
more  than  anything  else,  for  old-time  conditions  of 
servitude  have  been  maintained  on  lines  which  are 
astonishingly  near  those  of  feudal  times.  The  mis- 
tress of  the  household  is  even  yet  a  dictator  in  her 
realm.  What  her  servants  wear,  who  their  friends 
may  be,  limiting  recreation,  as  well  as  their  working 
hours,  she  controls  absolutely,  and,  to  all  intents  and 
purposes,  their  religion  and  politics  are  under  strict 
surveillance.  *'  As  the  Squire  and  the  Vicar  say," 
is  still  the  creed  of  rural  England,  and  in  each  of 
these  instances  it  is  the  wives  of  these  solons  who 
have  the  regulation  of  the  servant  question  in  their 
charge.  It  is  only  recently  that  the  housemaid  was 
allowed  to  ride  out  on  a  bicycle,  while  over  be-rib- 
boned    hats,    even    on    "  evenings    out,"    are    still 


SERVANTS  AND  THE  SERVANT  QUESTION      35 

frowned  upon.  The  English  servant  has  been 
brought  up  to  know  her  place.  Little  cause  for  won- 
der when  she  begins  to  define  that  place  herself  that 
the  foundations  of  the  English  system  of  serving  get 
a  shock!  On  the  whole,  the  feeling  is  strong  in 
England  against  a  servant  forgetting  her  place.  The 
Enghsh  servant  still  has  an  ingrained  respect  for 
"  her  betters  "  In  spite  of  the  strides  of  socialism. 
There  is  a  tendency  creeping  in  that  their  children 
might  seek  to  rise  in  the  world,  and  this  is  what  has 
shaken  the  nerves  of  the  English  housekeeper — that 
working  girls  should  be  allowed  to  look  forward  to 
any  other  occupation  than  that  of  going  out  into 
service  as  did  their  parents  before  them. 

It  is  the  "  board  schools  "  that  are  unfitting  the 
working  classes  for  domestic  service.  This  is  the  the- 
ory of  the  English  housekeeper.  **  Board  schools," 
that  Inadequate  English  form  of  a  public  school, 
have  only  provided  compulsory  education  for  little 
more  than  a  quarter  of  a  century,  but  the  upper 
classes  regard  the  plan  of  purveying  education  for 
the  masses  as  the  beginning  of  troubles  that  their 
grandparents  never  even  suspicioned. 

The  English  first  set  the  complicated  and  elabo- 
rate household  machine  to  running  smoothly,  but 
now  they  must  watch  out  that  they  are  not  caught 
in  the  cogs.  English  servants  have  formed  themselves 
into  a  vigilant  band  of  censors  and  expect  their  em- 
ployers to  live  up  to  their  positions,  incidentally  re- 
fraining from  bringing  discredit  upon  them.  Eng- 
lish servants  having  been  trained  by  Church  and 


36        THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

State  to  the  service  of  their  superiors  hold  their 
superiors,  in  turn,  up  to  their  duties.  They  seek 
not  only  to  guard  themselves  against  encroachment 
from  the  competition  of  fellow-workers,  but  from 
their  employers  as  well.  Nothing  so  demoralises  a 
servant  as  to  turn  In  and  do  work  one's  self.  Under 
such  circumstances  a  servant  would  let  you  know  in 
a  politely  impertinent  way  that  you  have  demeaned 
yourself,  that  you  are  "  no  lady."  She  would  much 
prefer  being  overworked  herself  to  suffer  the  igno- 
miny of  having  a  mistress  who  could  so  far  lose 
sight  of  her  dignity  as  to  be  willing  to  do  any  work 
that  belonged  to  the  province  of  her  maid.  No 
labour  union  was  ever  more  ingeniously  safe- 
guarded, and  the  mistress  becomes  a  "  scab  "  if  in- 
clination or  circumstance  impel  her  to  put  her  hand 
to  more  than  the  lever  which  sets  the  domestic 
machine  in  motion. 

A  rather  curious  development,  said  to  be  the  out- 
come of  two  things — the  difficulty  of  getting  general 
servants,  and  the  necessities  of  a  large  class  of  "  re- 
duced gentlewomen  " — has  brought  about  the  rise 
of  the  "  lady  help,''  an  anomalous  thing,  only  possible 
in  a  land  of  compromise,  such  as  England.  The 
"  lady  help  "  will  perform  practically  any  duty,  but 
the  fact  must  never  be  lost  sight  of  that  she  is  a 
''  lady."  The  etiquette  varies  somewhat,  but  she 
may  demand  that  she  have  her  tea  with  her  employer, 
or  even  that  she  take  her  meals  with  them.  Beyond 
this  she  is  not  usually  intrusive.  This  new  phase  of 
the  servant  question  has  not  been  in  operation  long 


SERVANTS  AND  THE  SERVANT  QUESTION      37 

enough  to  test  its  practical  working.  The  "  lady  " 
servant  asks  slightly  higher  wages  on  the  ground  of 
bringing  a  superior  intelligence  to  bear  on  the  do- 
mestic problem,  but  doubtless  she  counts  somewhat 
on  the  value  of  her  dignified  position. 

Caste  is  as  strongly  defined  in  the  servants'  hall  as 
in  the  drawing-room.  There  is  no  grade  of  English 
servant  but  what  is  able  to,  and  does,  look  down  on 
another,  and  the  chauffeur  or  coachman  (for  whom 
the  employer  is  taxed  by  the  government  for  the 
privilege  of  having  them  at  his  beck  and  call)  natu- 
rally feel  very  much  above  the  scullion  or  the  dairy- 
maid. 

In  some  respects  the  workings  of  the  great  houses 
are  simpler  than  that  of  a  more  modest  establishment. 
Where  there  is  a  housekeeper  to  whom  all  others 
must  look,  and  who  is  responsible  for  the  running  of 
the  house,  the  actual  cares  of  the  mistress  are  much 
lightened.  It  is  a  household  within  a  household,  of 
which  the  butler  and  the  housekeeper  are  the  heads, 
and  hold  positions  of  equal  dignity. 

One  just  cause  for  the  servant  unrest  In  England 
Is  that  arising  from  the  economy  of  food.  The 
larger  the  army  of  servants  the  more  niggardly,  very 
often.  Is  the  policy  of  the  house  towards  the  food 
supply  of  the  servants'  hall.  The  grander  the  estab- 
lishment the  more  diligently  must  small  economies  be 
practised,  especially  on  the  scale  of  the  steadily  de- 
creasing incomes  of  the  majority  of  land-owners. 

English  servants  are  better  lodged  than  their  fel- 
lows on  the  Continent,  but  that  they  are  better  nour- 


38        THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

ished  is  certainly  open  to  doubt.  The  food  for  each 
servant  is  carefully  apportioned — just  so  many  pounds 
of  meat,  bread,  tea,  sugar,  milk,  a  certain  allowance 
of  the  latter  being  for  puddings,  it  being  often  ex- 
plicitly stated  as  to  whether  puddings  for  the  serv- 
ants are  to  be  milk  puddings,  or  just  "  plain  boiled/' 
The  careful  housekeeper  sees  to  It  that  not  an  ounce 
extra  is  ever  given  out.  Each  servant  may  demand 
a  daily  allowance  of  beer,  or  Is  otherwise  entitled  to 
"beer  money'';  this  at  least  is  the  traditional  pro- 
cedure, though  not  always  enforced  to-day.  Any- 
thing beyond  this  regime  is  at  the  expense  of  the 
servant.  Board  wages — ^when  the  house  Is  closed, 
the  family  being  away — are  usually  allowed  at  the 
rate  of  ten  shillings  a  week.  What  would  the  well- 
fed  American  servant  say  to  being  expected  to  live 
on  two  dollars  and  a  half  a  week? 

The  "  Employers'  Liability  Act  "  has  recently  be- 
come a  law  In  Britain  and  adds  considerably  to  the 
complication  of  the  domestic  problem.  If  a  servant 
is  Injured  In  service,  even  though  it  be  through  her 
own  negligence,  the  employer  Is  liable  for  an  indem- 
nity. One  Insures  against  this  by  the  payment  of  a 
cash  premium,  which  automatically  adds  to  what 
one  pays  in  assumed  responsibility.  If  wages  are 
creeping  up  In  England,  they  still  seem,  to  us,  within 
reason.  A  general  servant  at  a  hundred  dollars  a 
year,  even  If  her  ability  as  a  cook  is  questionable, 
does  not  seem  unduly  expensive,  and  parlour  maids  are 
cheap  from  sixty  to  eighty  dollars  a  year.  It  Is  In 
the  aggregate  that  English  service  is  costly.     The 


Birthday  Gifts 


I  <«€.-««        C 

c    t     t    c    *e    •      c 
c        c    t*    c      t  e 


SERVANTS  AND  THE  SERVANT  QUESTION     39 

staff  required  to  run  an  average  house  and  family 
is  from  four  to  six — cook,  butler  and  parlour  maid  (or 
two  maids),  scullery  maid,  gardener  and  chauffeur, 
or  coachman,  according  to  taste.  The  chauffeur 
adds  another  complication;  he  ranks  above  the  old- 
time  coachman,  and  holds  himself  high  above  the 
other  servants,  is  usually  catered  for  apart,  and  in- 
deed is  the  subject  of  special  consideration  all  along 
the  line. 

Far  down  on  the  long  list  of  English  servants  is 
that  peculiar  London  type,  the  charwoman,  most 
lowly  of  menials,  whose  life  is  spent  in  the  grimy 
labour  which  has  been  evolved  as  a  result  of  the 
uneconomically  arranged  London  house.  For  a  shil- 
ling for  two  or  three  hours'  work,  she  blacks  the 
grates,  carries  coals  up,  and  ashes  down,  many  flights, 
and  sweeps  the  floors  on  her  knees  with  a  handbrush 
and  dustpan.  Faithful  In  her  work  but  untruthful 
in  speech,  kind-hearted  and  sloppy,  coming  to  her 
day's  work  on  the  strength  of  only  a  cup  of  tea, 
making  up  deficiency  on  surreptitious  "  beers,"  she 
has,  with  true  British  pride,  a  wholesome  respect  for 
her  work  and  the  knowledge  that  there  is  some  one 
still  farther  down  the  scale  whom  she  may  yet 
patronise.  It  is  these  qualities,  after  all,  that  con- 
duce to  the  still  unchallenged  superiority  of  the  Eng- 
lish servant. 

English  servants  are  trained  for  their  careers.  The 
cottager's  daughter  is  taught  to  arrange  a  tea-tray, 
that  a  neat  apron  is  a  necessity,  and  that  she  must 
say  **  thank  you,  ma'am,"  though  the  old-fashioned 


40        THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

bob-curtesy  is  a  relic  of  the  early  Victorian  period 
seldom  seen.  One  may  still  run  across  it,  but  it 
only  exists,  like  rare  birds,  in  out  of  the  way  spots. 

The  superior  English  servant  radiates  comfort, 
but  one  must  be  of  her  race  to  get  the  best  results 
from  her  service.  No  matter  how  circumspectly  the 
stranger,  coming  to  England  to  make  her  home, 
models  the  conduct  of  her  establishment  on  English 
lines,  the  attitude  of  the  servant  is  slightly  super- 
cilious. She  is  made  to  feel  that  she  is  not  of  the 
elect. 

Wages  are  lower  all  over  the  Continent  than  in 
England.  In  France  from  thirty  to  fifty  francs  (six 
to  ten  dollars)  is  the  wage  of  a  general  servant. 
In  Germany  it  is  less,  and  the  work  is  harder.  For 
cheap  labour  the  Belgian  woman  is  unequalled.  In 
the  matter  of  throwing  pails  of  water  about,  and 
putting  a  shine  on  things,  the  white-capped  Dutch  girl 
has  no  peer,  and  works  at  a  nominal  price,  though 
the  stranger  in  Holland  generally  finds  most  things 
very  expensive. 

Along  with  the  fear  of  a  diminishing  population 
in  France  comes  the  scare  of  a  famine  in  servants. 
The  number  of  female  domestic  servants  has  been 
steadily  decreasing  in  the  last  fifty  years,  so  that  there 
has  been  an  influx  of  a  cheaper  kind  from  the  more 
necessitous  countries,  notably  Switzerland,  Italy  and 
Belgium.  Still,  the  bonne  a  tout  faire,  the  stolid 
peasant  woman  of  the  old  French  provinces,  is  the 
mainstay  of  the  French  menage. 

The  average  French  household  is  economically  run 


SERVANTS  AND  THE  SERVANT  QUESTION      41 

with  but  one  general  servant — the  bonne  a  tout  faire, 
or  at  most  two — a  cuisiniere  and  a  femme  de  chambre. 
The  servant  in  France  is  on  a  different  plane  from 
that  of  her  English  sister.  Her  relations  with  the 
family  are  more  intimate,  and  she  shares  the  family 
cares  and  pleasures  alike,  being  really  one  of  them. 
It  would  be  impossible,  in  many  cases,  to  compress 


the  expansive  French  temperament  into  the  formal, 
impassive  mould  of  the  English  servant. 

The  French  bonne  a  tout  faire,  the  general  maid 
of  all  work,  is  a  faithful  animal,  a  product  of  the 
fields  of  France;  her  only  emotion  is  work,  her  only 
pleasure  to  lay  by,  sou  by  sou,  a  meagre  dot  in  the 
hope  that  it  will  gain  her  a  husband — that  is  if  she 
is  young.     More  often  she  spends  her  life  in  the 


42        THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

service  of  one  family,  her  small  hoardings  secreted 
in  the  traditional  bank  of  a  French  peasant,  the  bas 
de  laine.  She  cooks,  does  the  ordinary  wash  of  the 
family,  sews,  and  mends  all  the  family  stockings. 
She  rises  at  break  of  day  and  is  the  last  to  retire. 

Where  there  is  but  one  servant  the  mistress  is  ex- 
pected to,  and  does,  work  side  by  side  with  her.  The 
French  servant  would  be  more  likely  to  think  her 
mistress  was  not  a  lady  if  she  did  not  turn  her  hand 
to  the  housework,  and  besides  the  French  house- 
keeper is  always  a  domestic  worker,  all  except  the 
real  woman  of  society,  a  class  which  scarcely  exists 
outside  Paris.  The  bonne  goes  about  her  work  in 
the  morning  in  her  petticoat;  presumably  it  is  for 
economical  reasons,  as  she  does  not  don  her  dress 
until  late  in  the  day. 

Where  the  bonne  sweeps  the  room,  madame  is 
supposed  to  dust,  to  wipe  the  dishes  and  to  help  in 
the  making  of  the  beds  and  chamber  work.  The 
natural  outcome  of  this  is  that  maid  and  mistress 
are  on  a  friendly  footing.  This  brings  up  the  ob- 
jection to  the  transplanted  housekeeper  from  other 
lands  of  too  much  familiarity,  and  the  friendly  in- 
terest that  is  sometimes  a  real  charm  in  the  French 
servant  might  conceivably  become  an  interference. 

As  a  French  servant  is  charged  for  all  the  break- 
age, there  is  less  of  the  usual  slaughter  of  household 
crockery  here  than  in  England  or  America. 

The  bonne  a  tout  faire  is  paid  from  thirty  to  fifty 
francs  a  month,  according  as  to  whether  she  is  in 
the  country  or  the  city.     The  Parisian  servant  com- 


SERVANTS  AND  THE  SERVANT  QUESTION     43 

mands  the  highest  wages,  though  that  of  itself  does 
not  always  imply  the  most  capable  service.  The 
French  servant  is  quite  accustomed  to  a  strict  regime 
in  spite  of  the  social  latitude  which  is  allowed.  No 
one  practises  small  economies  so  well  as  the  French 
housekeeper.  It  is  she  who  carries  the  keys  and 
everything  is  under  lock.  Every  end  of  the  loaf  is 
accounted  for  and  even  candle  ends  are  saved. 
Lumps  of  sugar  are  counted  out  as  if  they  were  coin. 
In  spite  of  this  the  perquisites  of  the  French  serv- 
ant are  openly  tolerated,  particularly  that  commis- 
sion on  all  household  purchases,  which,  by  unwritten 
law,  amounts  to  a  sou  in  a  franc.  Naturally  this 
petty  graft  comes  out  of  the  household;  the  shop- 
keepers do  not  tax  their  profits  to  meet  this  extor- 
tion. Some  effort  has  been  made  to  counteract  this 
custom,  and  at  the  same  time  reduce  household  ex- 
penses by  allowing  the  servant  a  certain  percentage 
on  any  saving  which  may  be  made  in  the  household 
running  expenses,  such  as  heating,  lighting  and  the 
cost  of  staples  used  in  cooking.  This  implies  a  very 
good  working  knowledge  on  the  part  of  the  mistress 
as  to  the  real  cost  of  things,  and  in  that  way  makes 
for  a  valuable  knowledge  of  home  economics.  It 
is  thus  that  wasteful  tendencies  on  the  part  of  serv- 
ants are  controlled. 

The  cuisiniere  considers  as  her  right  this  danse 
du  panier,  as  it  is  called,  and  she  will  likely  enough 
leave  her  employ  if  she  is  not  allowed  the  privilege 
of  going  alone  to  market,  or  should  her  mistress 
watch  her  purchases  too  closely. 


44        THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

A  combination  frequently  seen  In  the  French  house- 
hold Is  the  married  couple,  the  wife  serving  as  cook,  or 
cuisiniere,  the  husband  as  valet  de  chambre.  Divid- 
ing the  work  among  themselves  they  are  thus  able  to 
keep  all  perquisites  In  the  family.  The  functions 
of  the  valet  de  chambre  are  Intimate,  but  one  gets 
used  to  a  man-servant  about  the  house  after  experi- 
ences with  ship  stewards,  the  silk-clad  Arabs  who 


F«mma  de  Menace  VaUTde.  Cbambr« 


glide  about  the  corridors  of  North  African  hotels, 
and  the  Swiss-German  who  prepares  your  bath  in 
the  famous  spas. 

The  valet  de  chambre  brings  madame  her  morn- 
ing chocolate,  places  it  discreetly  beside  the  bed  and 
retires ;  he  valets  monsieur,  does  the  rooms,  waits  on 
the  table,  and  in  toto  combines  the  duties  of  butler, 
footman  and  chambermaid. 

Where  the  combination  Is  a  cuisiniere  and  a  femme 
de  chambre,  the  duties  of  the  latter  are  practically 


SERVANTS  AND  THE  SERVANT  QUESTION      45 

the  same  as  those  of  the  valet  de  chamhre,  except  that, 
in  addition,  she  has  a  certain  amount  of  laundry 
work  which  she  must  also  mend  and  keep  in  order, 
besides  assisting  in  any  plain  sewing  to  be  done. 
Under  such  an  arrangement  the  cook  is  expected  to 
take  care  of  the  salon  and  salle  a  manger,  in  addition 
to  her  kitchen  duties  and  the  marketing,  which  latter 
for  her  is  really  a  recreation.  Where  there  are  chil- 
dren the  femme  de  chambre  is  supposed  to  occupy 
herself  to  some  extent  with  their  needs. 

A  housekeeper  in  France  has  great  responsibilities 
attached  to  her  position.  Theoretically,  she  is  re- 
sponsible for  the  moral  conduct  of  her  servants.  Not 
only  must  she  care  for  them  in  illness,  but  should 
any  harm  come  to  a  young  girl  in  her  employ  the 
parents  could  hold  her  responsible,  the  law  regard- 
ing the  servant  as  a  member  of  the  family  of  her 
employer.  In  Paris,  it  is  true,  this  is  virtually  a 
dead  letter,  for  the  immorality  of  the  Parisian  do- 
mestic servant  is  flagrant.  Any  consideration  of  this 
aspect  of  the  case  is  usually  met  by  a  shrug  of  the 
shoulders;  the  French  are  a  cynical  race;  "if  she 
is  a  good  servant,  what  more  could  one  ask?  " 

The  low  moral  status  of  women  servants  is  gen- 
erally recognised  throughout  Europe  as  a  result  of 
the  difficulties  with  which  marriage  is  hedged  about, 
though  more  probably  in  many  instances  It  is  as  a 
result  of  the  last  feeble  flickerings  of  a  feudal  system 
which  took  no  account  of  the  overlord's  obligations 
towards  a  menial.  Things  are  better  in  England; 
the  moral  standard  among  servants  is  higher,  out- 


46        THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

wardly  at  least,  but  there  are  sturdy,  self-respecting 
working  parents  who  say  that  the  great  country-house, 
with  its  gay  week-end  parties,  is  no  place  for  a  young 
girl.  This  is  another  phase  of  the  servant  question. 
A  picturesque  figure  in  Continental  cities  whose 
functions  keep  her  in  the  eye  of  the  public,  is  the 


TABJs 

"Nou>Noa 


nursemaid,  and  to  her  is  largely  due  the  credit  of 
preserving  the  national  dress  of  her  country.  The 
Spanish-Catalan  nurse  wears  the  black  lace  mantilla 
draped  gracefully  over  her  head  and  held  by  long, 
gold  pins,  while  in  Italy  the  charming  Neapolitan 
costume  is  the  favourite  livery  of  the  nurse;  the 
folded  white  head  dress,  the  coral  necklace,  the  laced 
bodice  and  apron,  with  its  coloured  bands,  dress  up 


SERVANTS  AND  THE  SERVANT  QUESTION      47 

the  Italian  nursemaid  who  still  carries  baby  wrapped 
in  the  same  style  of  swaddling  clothes  as  those  of 
the  Lucca  della  Robbia  infants.  The  English  nurse- 
maid is  a  symphony  in  grey  and  white,  with  a  close- 


fitting  black  bonnet,  with  white  floating  strings,  who 
must  look  continually  immaculate  on  a  pittance  of 
from  six  to  ten  pounds  a  year. 

The  profession  of  nursemaid  in  Paris  is  almost 
exclusively  In  the  hands  of  the  little  Breton  girls, 


4S 


THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 


whose  dainty  coiffes,  black  dresses  and  silken  aprons 
form  the  badge  of  the  Parisian  children's  nurse. 
They  are  among  the  most  reliable  of  French  types 
of  servitors,  though  rarely  paid  above  ten  dollars 

a  month,  more  often  but 


seven 


or 


eight.  The 
nounou,  the  nursing 
nurse,  is  the  aristocrat  of 
the  profession.  With 
floating  cloak  and  ribbon 
head-dress  of  bright- 
coloured  streamers,  her 
charge  smothered  in  laces 
on  a  pillow  in  her  arm, 
she  is  the  most  pic- 
turesque adjunct  of  the 
beautiful  gardens  of 
Paris.  She  is  the  queen 
of  that  portion  of  the 
Bois  set  apart  for  the 
use  of  children,  undefiled 
by  the  automobile,  a  sym- 
phony in  blue  or  rose.  The  "  nounou ''  of  the  chic 
Parisian  must  be  as  dainty  as  her  mistress,  who 
furnishes  her  charming  costume  free  of  cost,  includ- 
ing the  ruched  bonnet  composed  of  many  yards  of 
twelve-inch  ribbon,  often  of  the  value  of  her  em- 
ployer's own  hat.  The  ''  nounou "  carries  herself 
haughtily,  but  her  very  trade  tends  to  a  life  of  im- 
morality. A  wage  of  twenty-five  dollars  a  month 
is  too  strong  a  temptation  not  to  keep  her  in  service, 


SERVANTS  AND  THE  SERVANT  QUESTION      49 

The  soubrette  seems  to  us  such  a  reminder  of  the 
stage  that  we  rarely  think  of  her  except  as  tripping 
before  the  footlights,  tossing  her  head  under  its 
coquettish  cap,  hands  in  the  pockets  of  her  berib- 
boned  apron.  The  soubrette  in  real  life,  however, 
in  the  character  of  lady's  maid,  plays  an  important 
role  in  the  social  drama  of  fashionable  life.  Her 
intimate  relations  with  her  mistress  often  make  her 
a  confidante.  No  gay  French  farce  is  ever  pre- 
sented but  shows  up  the  little  soubrette,  the  guardian 
of  the  secrets  of  the  boudoir,  and  the  convenient  go- 
between  in  the  menage  a  trois.  Such  a  play  reflects 
the  versatile  functions  of  the  soubrette  with  consid- 
erable fidelity.  Madame  often  consults  her  maid's 
taste ;  as  a  hair-dresser  she  has  no  equal ;  her  deftness 
with  chiffons  makes  her  an  invaluable  assistant  in  the 
intricacies  of  the  toilet  of  the  woman  of  fashion,  and 
altogether  she  is  one  of  the  least  to  be  spared  of 
French  feminine  servants. 

The  French  lady's  maid  is  most  valued  by  the 
woman  of  the  world,  whatever  may  be  her  nation- 
ality. Even  the  Englishwoman  replaces  her  more 
reliable,  hard-working  English  girl  with  the  vrme 
Parisienne  when  the  purse  permits.  The  exchange 
costs  about  fifty  per  cent  more,  but  the  English- 
woman considers  that  she  gains  this  in  "  smartness." 
"  The  lady's  maid  as  an  economic  factor  in  life  is 
worth  what  she  costs,"  says  the  Englishwoman;  "  she 
saves  the  small  outside  expenses."  Besides  the  per- 
sonal service  that  she  renders,  the  French  maid  usu- 
ally has  a  working  knowledge  of  dressmaking  and 


50        THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

ought  even  to  be  able  to  run  together  a  gown  if 
necessary. 

The  English  servant  still  dies  in  service  and  is 
laid  away  in  the  village  churchyard  in  the  shadow 
of  the  escutcheoned  tomb  of  the  house  she  has  served, 
usually  so  well,  or  it  may  be  that  she  will  have  been 
retired  on  a  pension.  In  France  the  State,  so  fond 
of  giving  decorations,  more  theatrically  rewards  the 
faithful  servant  by  giving  her  a  medal  for  a  certain 
number  of  years  of  continuous  service,  also  a  small 
sum  of  money.     Truly  the  servant  question  is  great  I 

The  disposition  of  the  time  of  the  servants  of  a 
Paris  household  is  usually  about  as  follows : 

In  a  household  of  three  servants,  a  woman  cook,  a 
butler  and  a  chambermaid  or  parlour  maid. 

COOK 

7.00  A.  M.  Preparing  of  the  petit  dejeuner  and 
general  making  ready  for  the 
day's  work. 

8.30  A.  M.     Marketing. 

9.30  A.  M.     Servants'  breakfast,  the  preparing 
of  sundry  desserts  for  the  mas- 
ter's dejeuner  and  dinner,  and  the 
cooking  of  the  mid-day  meal. 
12.00  Noon.     Master's  dejeuner, 
I  to  1.30  P.M.     Servants'  dejeuner. 

Afternoon  devoted  to  the  clean- 
ing up  of  cooking  and  eating 
utensils,  dishes,  etc.,  and  the 
preparing  of  dinner. 


SERVANTS  AND  THE  SERVANT  QUESTION      51 

7.00  P.  M.  Dinner. 
8  to  8.30  P.  M.  Servants'  dinner,  cleaning  of  dinner 
dishes,  etc. 
General  cleaning. — Monday  afternoons:  kitchen 
and  cupboard,  windows,  etc.  Tuesday:  the  range 
and  its  appurtenances.  Wednesday :  cupboard  shelv- 
ing, plate  racks,  etc.  Thursday:  walls,  ceiling  base- 
boards, etc.  Friday:  all  brass  and  copper  cooking 
utensils.  Saturday :  floors  thoroughly  cleaned,  which, 
however,  are  usually  washed  down  every  day. 

BUTLER 

A.  M.  Make  and  light  fires,  polish  boots,  brush  men's 
clothing,  prepare  the  salle  a  manger  for 
dejeuner,  serve  at  table,  etc. 
p.  M.  Lay  table  for  dinner,  serve  same,  clear  away, 
and  at  ten  o'clock  make  ready  the  sleeping- 
rooms. 
Monday  morning:  Wax  and  polish  halls  and  one 

sleeping-room. 
Afternoon:  Clean  silver  and  copper  and 
brass  in  dining-room. 
Tuesday  morning:  Clean    thoroughly  the  salon, 

wax    and    polish    floor    of 
salle  a  manger,  clean  thor- 
oughly one  sleeping-room. 
Afternoon:  Attend  callers. 
Wednesday  morning:  Polish    furniture    of    salle   a 

manger,    clean    thoroughly 
one  sleeping-room. 


52        THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

Afternoon:  Clean  and  polish  lighting  fix- 
tures, windows  and  mirrors. 
Thursday  morning :  Clean    thoroughly   one    sleep- 
ing-room. 
Afternoon:  Clean  and  polish  mirrors  and 
fixtures  of  small  salon. 
Friday  morning:  Wax    and    polish    stairs    and 
banisters,   clean  thoroughly 
bathroom. 
Afternoon:  Clean  brasses. 
Saturday  morning:  Clean  thoroughly  small  salon. 
Afternoon:  Clean  thoroughly  pantry  cup- 
boards, trays,  etc. 
At  all  times  the  butler  is  supposed  to  be  able  to 
arrange  his  work  in  such  a  manner  as  to  be  present- 
able for  receiving  callers. 

CHAMBERMAID  (FEMME  DE  CHAMBRE)  OR 
PARLOUR  MAID 

Morning:  Awaken  children,  serve  the  petit  de- 
jeuner, clean  lamps  and  fixtures, 
brush  dresses  of  mistress,  sew  up 
rips  or  clean  off  spots  if  necessary, 
make  up  beds  and  put  sleeping-rooms 
in  order. 
Afternoon:  Sewing  and  ironing.  In  winter  close 
windows  at  sundown.  Arrange  beds 
for  the  night. 
Monday:  Make  up  list  of  soiled  linen  for  laun- 
dry  and  put   that   which   is   to   be 


SERVANTS  AND  THE  SERVANT  QUESTION      53 

washed  in  the  house  to  soak.     Sort 
and  mend  fresh  linen  returned  from 
laundry. 
Tuesday:  Wash  household  linen  and  mend. 
Wednesday:   Sewing  and  mending. 
Thursday:   Ironing. 
Friday:   Sewing. 
Saturday:   Clean   thoroughly   and   arrange   linen 
cupboard. 

In  an  establishment  with  but  two  domestics,  a 
cuisiniere  and  a  femme  de  chamhre,  much  the  same 
sequence  of  operations  would  take  place,  with  the 
extra  cleaning  of  halls  and  rooms  falling  equally 
upon  the  two,  the  chambermaid  serving  also  as  par- 
lour maid  and  attending  the  door. 

With  but  one  servant,  the  general  maid  of  all 
work,  or  bonne  a  tout  faire,  will  of  necessity  need 
the  aiding  hand  once  and  again  of  the  mistress  of 
the  house,  or  by  the  supplanting  by  an  occasional  ex- 
tra day's  labour  called  in  from  outside. 


Mornings:  Salle  a  manger,  petit  dejeuner,  salon, 
marketing  and  making  up  the  sleep- 
ing-rooms aided  by  the  mistress. 

Afternoon :  On  succeeding  days  one  apartment  to  be 
thoroughly  cleaned.  Dejeuner  to  be 
served  at  noon.  The  washing  of 
small  household  linen,  mending,  iron- 
ing; preparing  and  serving  of  dinner 
at  seven  o'clock  and  the  washing  up. 


54        THlE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

All  this,  assuming  that  the  family  meals  are  of 
the  simplest  order  and  that  little  or  no  entertaining 
is  undertaken,  and  that  the  mistress  does  many  of  the 
light  errands  and  largely  occupies  herself  with  the 
children  in  case  there  are  any. 

A  good  general  servant  can  be  got  in  the  country 
districts  in. Germany  for  as  little  as  fifty  dollars  a 
year,  maybe  even  less,  but  she  will  do  wonders  on 
that  two  hundred  and  fifty  marks,  dressing  neatly  in 
heavy  homespun  and  woolens  that  do  not  often  have 
to  be  replenished,  eating  her  frugal  black  bread  and 
sausage,  provided  for  her  by  the  house,  without  a 
grumble,  even  laying  by  money  in  the  savings 
bank. 

One  of  the  principal  points  of  disfavour  for  do- 
mestic service  which  is  manifesting  itself  in  Germany 
is  the  wretched  way  in  which  a  servant  is  often  housed, 
frequently  sleeping  in  a  dark  cupboard,  without  light 
or  air — a  mere  hole  in  the  wall  that  cannot  be  used 
for  anything  else. 

The  German  woman  labourer  is  the  hardest 
worked  of  menials;  she  often  does  a  man's  work  in 
addition  to  her  own.  She  it  is  who  cleans  the  streets 
and  removes  the  garbage.  It  is  nothing  strange, 
then,  to  learn  that  she  is  going  more  and  more  into 
factory  work,  which  the  growing  industrial  boom 
in  Germany  is  opening  up  for  her. 

Servants  are  usually  abominably  housed  every- 
where on  the  Continent.  In  France  they  are  usually 
jammed  up  under  the  mansard  with  only  a  pane  of 
glass  in  the  ceiling  to  give  air  and  light.     The  sub- 


SERVANTS  AND  THE  SERVANT  QUESTION      55 

ject  has  been  much  agitated  of  late,  but  no  general 
reform  has  resulted,  nor  was  one  looked  for. 

In  the  French  country  hotel,  the  early  riser  will 
often  discover  the  garqon  rolled  up  in  a  blanket  on 
the  floor  at  the  back  of  the  hall,  or  at  best  on  a 
collapsible  cot  which  he  will  carry  away  under  his 
arm  in  the  morning. 

Swiss  servants  are  good,  reliable  and  industrious, 
but  are  apt  to  be  cold,  disagreeable  and  unpleasant  to 
get  on  with.  Especially  with  a  stranger  they  are 
often  unsympathetic,  not  to  say  hostile,  a  fact  which 
makes  their  presence  in  the  house  not  always  agree- 
able. The  great  demand  for  servants  in  hotels  in 
Switzerland  tends  to  make  them  independent  to  a 
shameful  degree.  In  the  summer  season,  between 
the  getting  in  the  crops,  work  in  the  hotels  and 
the  embroidery  factories,  the  supply  of  labour  is  not 
always  up  to  the  demand,  hence  every  one  is  over- 
worked and  unduly  hurried  and  apt  to  be  irritable. 

In  marked  contrast  is  the  happy-go-lucky  Italian 
servant  who  has  some  of  the  exasperating  and  endear- 
ing qualities  which  are  possessed  by  the  Irish.  Smiling 
and  of  pleasant  manner,  the  Italian  woman  servant 
will  try  to  please  for  any  old  price  one  is  minded  to 
give  her.  For  thirty  or  forty  lire  she  will  serve  you 
well  and  cook  good  meals  in  native  style  for  a  month, 
with  never  a  grumble  as  to  short  rations  if  you  clean 
up  the  platter  in  the  dining-room. 

She  calls  her  mistress  madonna^  with  a  caressing 
accent,  and  buys  her  a  candle  that  has  been  blessed 
to  burn  beside  her  bed.     Her  kitchen  looks  like  the 


56        THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

wake  of  a  whirlwind,  with  a  baby  or  two  making 
playthings  of  the  vegetables,  clucking  fowls  stalk- 
ing about,  and  neighbours  dropping  in  for  a 
chat. 

On  your  fete  day,  or  birthday,  your  French  servant 
will  remember  you  with  a  present  of  a  pot-plant  in 
flower,  tied  up  with  a  ribbon,  often  accompanied  by  a 
badly  spelled,  affectionate  little  note.  In  turn  you 
are  expected  to  reciprocate  in  the  same  manner,  and 
if  you  get  up  for  her  a  little  informal  party,  with 
cakes  and  wine,  you  will  incur  no  lack  of  dignity  or 
strain  your  proper  relations. 

The  French  cafe  garqon  is  one  of  the  most  com- 
petent of  public  servants.  Also  he  is  the  most  per- 
sonally intimate  of  waiters.  This  comes  from  the 
fact  that  the  clientele  of  the  average  cafe  is  largely 
made  up  of  people  who  come  regularly,  thus  mutu- 
ally dependent  relations  come  about  quite  naturally 
between  the  waiter  and  the  particular  coterie  which 
he  regularly  serves.  He  is  polite  and  attentive, 
chatty  and  communicative,  but  never  familiar.  He 
will  bring  writing  materials  if  you  ask  him  for  du 
quoi  ecrire — the  cafe  letter  head,  in  a  folder,  accom- 
panied by  blotting  paper  that  won't  blot,  pale  ink 
and  a  scratchy  pen.  With  good  taste  and  judgment 
he  will  pick  out  from  the  pile  of  illustrated  journals 
which  the  establishment  provides  for  its  clients  those 
that  he  thinks  are  suitable  for  the  eyes  of  the  ladies — 
though  not  many  of  them  are.  He  brings  out  the 
backgammon  board  and  the  dominoes,  first  wiping 
off  the  table  with  the  folded  napkin  which  always 


SERVANTS  AND  THE  SERVANT  QUESTION      57 

hangs  across  his  left  arm.  He  never  suggests  by  a 
covert  hovering  about  that  one  should  order  some- 
thing more,  but  serves  the  coffee,  or  whatever  may 
have  been  ordered,  and  allows  one  to  sit  under  Its 
protection  all  of  the  evening  If  so  desired.  He  un- 
derstands that  one  comes  to  a  cafe  to  repose,  often 
more  for  this  even  than  to  drink.  He  will  do  any- 
thing but  bring  one  a  glass  of  ice  water  alone.  In 
return  for  his  excellent  service  this  embarrassing 
order  should  never  be  given  him  by  those  with  de- 
generate palates. 

When  one  stops  to  think  of  the  cosmopolitan  treat- 
ment that  the  servants  of  European  hotels  have  to 
contend  with,  the  world-varying  demands  which  they 
have  to  meet,  with  complaints  in  a  dozen  languages 
that  they  must  straighten  out — usually  caused  by 
misunderstanding,  brought  about  by  the  ignorance 
of  foreign  manners  and  customs  on  the  part  of  those 
whom  they  are  serving,  it  must  certainly  be  admitted 
that  as  a  class  European  public  servants  are  good  and 
efficient.  There  may  be  individual  shortcomings, 
but  these  only  prove  the  strength  of  the  statement. 
Their  politeness  is  not  always  reciprocated  by  those 
whom  they  serve,  and  this  of  Itself  is  enough  to  strain 
good  nature  to  the  breaking  point.  Whatever  may 
be  the  present  defects  in  the  system  of  recruiting, 
and  the  conduct  of  servants  In  European  hotels,  the 
question  may  be  asked  If  some  of  them  may  not  be 
induced,  often  unwittingly  maybe,  by  their  exigent 
patrons. 

The  following  observations  on  Continental  hotel 


58        THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

servants  may  open  a  new  line  of  thought  with  some 
who  would  otherwise  condemn  hastily: 

One  of  the  first  requirements  of  the  cosmopolitan 
type  of  European  hotel  is  that  its  personnel — its 
staff — must  have  some  working  knowledge  of  three 
or  four  languages.  The  European  waiter  educates 
himself  by  taking  service  in  various  countries  for  the 
purpose  of  increasing  his  vocabulary,  well  knowing 
that  nothing  will  so  quickly  improve  his  ability  to 
grasp  opportunity. 

As  for  the  hall  porter,  that  resplendent  guardian 
of  the  hotel  entrance,  he  is  a  veritable  linguist.  In 
the  course  of  a  few  minutes  he  must  switch  from 
one  to  another  of  a  half  a  dozen  languages,  beside 
be  an  expert  in  differentiating  between  American 
lingo  and  real  English.  His  is  no  sinecure,  and  a 
tip  is  often  worthily  bestowed  on  him,  for  he  is  a 
buffer  between  the  tourist  and  her  own  incompetence. 
No  question  is  too  trivial  for  his  consideration,  no 
situation  so  complicated  that  he  cannot  grapple  with 
it.  The  strain  on  his  temper  and  ability  can  only  be 
met  by  keeping  the  parting  tip  always  in  mental 
view.  He  is  the  mainstay  of  the  ladies  and  is  asked 
almost  as  many  questions  as  the  captain  of  an  Atlantic 
liner.  He  is  the  local  directory,  and  can  give  any 
kind  of  information  from  where  to  buy  hat  pins  to 
what  the  weather  will  be  a  day  hence — if  he  does  not 
really  know  he  will  make  a  good  guess  at  it.  His 
province  is  to  see  to  the  incoming  and  outgoing  of 
the  luggage,  to  sift  out  an  excited  and  nervous  crowd 
of  travellers,   with  only,   in   most  cases,   a   general 


SERVANTS  AND  THE  SERVANT  QUESTION      59 

idea  of  where  they  want  to  go,  and  what  they  want 
to  do,  and  clarify  their  plans  for  them,  getting  them 
off  to  the  right  trains,  or  into  their  own  automobiles 
or  carriages.  Whatever  tip  he  may  get  he  usually 
deserves,  whether  it  be  as  little  as  two  francs  or  as 
much  as  ten. 

The  head  waiter  controls  the  dining-room  and  the 
army  of  waiters.  He  seemingly  has  nothing  to  do 
but  to  bow  politely,  but  the  responsibility  is  his  and 
all  kicks  should  be  made  to  him;  also  it  is  he  who 
presents  the  bill  on  parting,  when  it  is  asked  for  at 
the  last  meal.  The  big,  fat  tips  of  one's  stay  goes 
usually  to  this  Chesterfieldian  personage  principally 
for  those  pleasant  bows  and  "  good-mornings  "  with 
which  he  has  brightened  your  stay,  though  one  with 
any  conscience  will  tip  her  waiter  who  has  served 
as  well. 

Out  of  each  million  of  hotel  guests  in  Paris,  count- 
ing those  only  who  frequent  the  four  chief  classes  of 
hotels,  650,000  are  French  provincials,  the  rest  be- 
ing Strangers,  Americans,  most  likely,  in  the  largest 
number. 

The  valet  de  chamhre,  or  the  femme  de  chamhre 
in  a  big  Paris  hotel  gains  on  an  average  of  thirty- 
five  francs  a  month  as  salary,  which  with  ''  gratifica- 
tions/^ a  new  word  which  the  craft  has  adopted  for 
pourboire,  may  bring  it  up  to  one  hundred,  one  hun- 
dred and  twenty-five  or  even  one  hundred  and  fifty 
francs. 

The  sommeliers,  or  garqons,  who  serve  on  the 
upper  floors,  who  dress  staidly  in  black  and  shuffle 


6o        THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

about  like  croque-morts  (usually  Swiss  or  Alsaclens, 
or  even  Germans)  touch  perhaps  a  hundred  francs 
as  salary  or  two  hundred  and  fifty  or  more — gratifica- 
tion compris. 

The  wages,  or  perhaps  one  should  say  salaries,  of 
the  kitchen  staff  of  a  great  modern  Paris  hotel — leav- 
ing the  chef-directeur,  the  successor  of  the  former 
ecuyer  de  cuisine,  out  of  the  calculation,  and  who 
may  get  anything  that  the  management  can  be  made 
to  pay — run  from  three  hundred  to  four  hundred 
francs  a  month — Potagers,  sauciers,  rotisseurs,  entre- 
metiers,  pdtissiers  and  glaciers. 

Seven  brigades  of  these  sub-cellar  employees 
(though  now  it  is  the  fashion  to  put  the  kitchens  on 
the  roof)  make  soup  In  marmites  as  big  as  bath  tubs, 
roast  meat  on  troches  as  long  as  assagai  spears  and 
make  a  friture  of  three  hundred  baby  trout  In  a 
cauldron  of  boiling  oil  as  big  as  the  basin  of  a 
Versailles  fountain. 

A  dependency  of  all  hotel  kitchens  Is  the  cafeterie. 
Here  real  artists  pour  boiling  water  drop  by  drop 
on  the  finest  powdered  moka,  make  also  the  smooth- 
est possible  chocolate  and  infuse  the  choicest  pekoes, 
and  the,  be  it  not  forgot,  returns  the  greatest  pro- 
portionate profit  in  many  a  cafe  and  restaurant  In 
Paris  where  the  drinking  of  it  has  become  a  fad  if 
not  a  custom — four  sous'  worth  of  tea-leaves  return 
the  cafe  proprietor  thirty  sous  in  silver. 


no    marketing    by    telephone    in    european 

households 
outdoor  markets  of  europe 
markets  index  to  national  character 
representative  mediterranean  market 
Toulon's  multi-coloured  daily  market 
cosmopolitan  market  women 
bargaining  under  the  red  umbrellas 
primitive  weights  and  measures 
cheap  garden  produce 
a  corner  in  snails 
variety  the  characteristic  of  the   foreign 

MARKET 
BIG  STALL  OWNERS  AND  SMALL  VENDORS 
BLEND  OF  FLOWERS  AND  VEGETABLES 
OFFICERS  GO  MARKETING 
CHEAP   END  OF  THE   MARKET 
FISH  MARKET 

GREAT  GOOSE  MARKET  OF  GERMANY 
COVENT  GARDEN,  WHERE  LONDON  GOES  TO  MARKET 
THE  COSTER  AND  HIS  "  MOKE  " 
ONE  BUYS  DEARLY  IN  LONDON  MARKETS 
ICE  A  LUXURY 

PUSH-CART  VENDORS  IN  PARIS 
**  LES  MERCHANDES  DES  QUATRE  SAISONS  " 


Ill 

FOREIGN  MARKETS  AND  MARKETING 

One  does  not  market  by  telephone  in  Europe.  The 
telephone  is  rare  enough  in  business,  and  has  not 
entered  into  the  domestic  scheme  of  things  at  all. 
The  good,  frugal  housekeepers  go  to  market  them- 
selves, making  of  it  one  of  the  serious  businesses  of 
the  day.  Besides  being  an  economic  question,  it  is 
to  the  lady  of  the  house  an  amusement.  Bargaining 
is  a  passion  of  the  European  woman,  and  nowhere 
does  this  antiquated  method  of  buying  and  selling 
exist  in  so  near  an  approach  to  its  most  primitive 
form  as  in  the  market  place. 

The  Frenchwoman  goes  to  market  herself,  and 
if  of  the  better  class,  with  a  bonne  carrying  the 
market  basket  in  which  to  bring  back  the  purchases. 
Often  the  bonne  or  the  cuisiniere  is  entrusted  with  this 
duty  herself,  though  for  the  most  part  the  mistress 
prefers  to  go;  she  longs  for  the  excitement  of  getting 
her  bunch  of  asparagus  one  sou  cheaper,  even  if  it 
takes  the  best  part  of  the  morning.  She  is  the  most 
careful  of  buyers,  no  skilful  arrangement  of  fruit  to 
hide  defects  escapes  her  keen  eye,  no  juggling  of  the 
scales  goes  on  unnoticed.  The  daily  marketing  oper- 
ation brings  out  the  Frenchwoman's  aptitude  for 
small  savings. 

63 


64        THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

The  Italian  housekeeper  goes  marketing  with  her 
maid  for  a  chaperone,  the  maid  invariably  following 
after,  carrying  her  mistress'  parasol  as  well  as  the 
market  basket,  it  not  being  etiquette  for  the  Italian 
lady  to  carry  anything. 

The  Dutch  woman  is  seen  at  market  sampling 
the  round,  flat  cheeses  of  her  country,  with  a  modern 
hat  perched  on  top  of  the  white  cap  and  antique 
gold  ornaments  in  an  endeavour  to  reconcile  con- 
flicting styles.  The  insistent  point  is  that  marketing 
in  Europe  is  a  woman's  occupation. 

As  the  economy  of  Europe  consists  in  saving  rather 
than  producing,  there  is  no  branch  of  her  expendi- 
ture that  the  thrifty  housekeeper  watches  more  closely 
than  the  daily  marketing,  and  where  the  servant  is 
entrusted  with  it  her  mistress  is  always  too  well  posted 
on  values  to  permit  of  much  juggling  with  the  market 
money. 

If  one  wants  to  learn  something  of  the  real  life  of 
a  people,  go  to  market  with  them  and  study  what 
they  eat  and  how  they  buy  it.  The  open-air  markets 
of  Europe  are  out-of-door  theatres — moving-picture 
shows — where  every  phase  of  life,  from  social  science 
to  household  economics,  can  be  studied. 

In  their  general  characteristics  markets  are  much 
alike  and  furnish  always  one  of  the  most  picturesque 
impressions  that  one  retains  of  life  abroad.  They 
are  usually  spread  out  in  the  principal  square,  with 
a  centre-piece  of  a  sculptured  fountain,  or  grouped 
about  an  ancient  church  in  an  intimate  and  confiding 
manner.     Thus  one  bargains   for  a  salad  beneath 


FOREIGN  MARKETS  AND  MARKETING     65 

sculptured  saints  and  broken-nosed  angels,  or  under 
big  umbrellas  like  gigantic  polychrome  mushrooms 
in  the  warmer  latitudes. 

The  produce  is  brought  in  from  the  country  round 
about  in  the  slow,  uneconomic  way  that  the  European 
peasant  usually  works,  by  diminutive  donkey-carts, 
or  in  basket  panniers  slung  across  the  backs  of  mules, 
in  high,  two-wheeled  French  carts,  in  quaint,  cradle- 
shaped  Dutch  wagons,  or  by  Sicilian  carts  decorated 
like  a  circus  wagon ;  perhaps  even  it  may  be  brought 
in  a  basket  on  the  arm,  or  down  a  mountainside 
strapped  over  the  shoulders. 

Every  Continental  town  of  any  pretensions  has  a 
weekly  market — a  veritable  county  fair,  where  every 
conceivable  article  that  may  tempt  a  small  community 
is  on  sale.  The  market  is  the  social  gathering  place 
as  well  as  a  produce  exchange.  This  gives  the  frugal 
European  peasant  an  opportunity  to  exchange  local 
gossip  without  neglecting  business.  There  is  amuse- 
ment, too.  An  itinerant  little  theatre  in  a  gypsy 
wagon  runs  a  little  show,  and  there  may  be  a  merry- 
go-round,  and  there  are  always  foolish  knick-knacks 
being  offered  for  sale  which  have  no  place  in  any 
self-respecting  trading  community. 

As  a  representative  Mediterranean  market  that  of 
Toulon,  in  southern  France,  may  be  taken  as  a  type. 

It  has  all  the  characteristics  of  the  markets  of  all 
semi-tropical  European  countries,  and  a  good  many 
peculiar  to  itself. 

Toulon  is  France's  biggest  war  port  and  naval 
station.     From  a  dozen  to  twenty-five  ships  of  the 


66        THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

fleet  are  always  at  anchor  in  the  harbour,  and  the 
blue-jackets  aboard  must  be  fed,  as  well  as  a  stand- 
ing garrison  of  thirty  thousand  or  more  soldiers, 
in  addition  to  the  city's  population  of  a   hundred 


Wo/v\cr\ 


thousand.  Toulon's  market  under  such  conditions 
may  be  taken  as  a  concrete  example,  and  a  study  of 
it  will  prove  a  liberal  education  for  any  one  interested 
in  foodstuffs. 

It  is  a  daily  market,  and  from  seven  until  noon, 
stretches  along  one  of  the  principal  tree-lined  boule- 


FOREIGN  MARKETS  AND  MARKETING     67 

vards  for  fully  half  a  mile,  a  riot  of  colour,  with  the 
excited  movements  of  a  lively  southern  people,  for 
Toulon  can  show  as  parti-coloured  a  conglomeration 
of  inhabitants  as  any  of  the  cosmopolitan  Mediter- 
ranean seaports. 

You  and  the  bonne  with  a  filet  on  her  arm  (the 
cord  bag  or  carryall  for  all  kinds  of  plunder) ,  start 
out  about  nine  for  the  day^s  marketing.  These 
southern  countries  don't  stir  early,  and  before  nine 
you  run  the  risk  that  not  all  of  the  petty  merchants 
will  have  arranged  their  wares. 

Temporary  stalls  of  boards  are  ranged  on  either 
side  under  the  giant  plantain  trees,  often  still  further 
protected  by  great  umbrellas  and  awnings,  not  of  the 
usual  white,  but  red-brown,  that  the  sun  and  wind 
have  bleached  to  every  shade  from  orange  to  tan. 
Toulon's  market,  because  of  its  varied  colouring,  has 
been  the  inspiration  of  many  an  artist.  Heaped  up 
in  big  baskets  is  as  varied  and  exotic  a  lot  of  produce 
as  was  ever  brought  together. 

You  join  the  crowd  of  buyers  strolling  critically 
along  the  promenade  between  the  stalls,  over  which 
women  preside  almost  exclusively.  It  is  the  women 
who  control  the  markets  of  Europe.  It  is  essentially 
a  woman's  business,  and  the  men  appear  only  as 
auxiliaries,  except  where  a  cattle  market  is  an  adjunct 
of  the  ordinary  market.  The  men  are  the  producers 
and  leave  it  to  their  women  to  get  the  money  and 
also  keep  it  safely. 

These  Toulon  market  women  are  as  motley  as 
their  wares.     There  are  Italians,  Corsicans,  Maltese 


68        THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

and  the  native  dark  Proven^aux.  Every  Mediter- 
ranean type  Is  here,  an  unkempt,  Independent  crowd. 
Many  of  them  scarcely  speak  French  enough  to  sell 
their  produce,  and  they  have  nine-and-twenty  ways 
of  counting  money,  which,  combined  with  a  laxity 
in  giving  the  right  change,  keeps  one  on  the  alert. 
They  are  more  noisy  and  vociferous  than  their 
phlegmatic  sisters  of  the  North,  and  have  honeyed 
tongues  when  they  wish.  "  Ma  belle,  ma  belle/* 
they  call  out  to  you  coaxingly,  and  again,  "  What  a 
beautiful  hat.  Madonna;  won't  the  bella  donna  look 
at  my  strawberries,  only  twelve  sous  the  kilo."  Six 
cents  a  pound  isn't  dear  for  March  strawberries. 

Though  the  French  say  Toulon  is  the  most  ex- 
pensive market  in  France,  It  seemed  cheap  enough 
to  the  American  housekeeper.  A  family  of  three 
fared  sumptuously  on  an  outlay  of  from  three  to  four 
francs  a  day.  If  you  paid  more  than  two  cents  for 
a  fine  head  of  escarole  you  were  a  bad  bargainer; 
ten  cents'  worth  of  petits  pots  took  the  bonne  a  good 
part  of  the  morning  to  shell  out,  and  asparagus  sold 
at  a  sliding  scale  from  eight  to  twenty  cents  for  a 
bunch  of  two  dozen  stalks,  according  to  quantity  in 
the  market. 

Spaniards,  who  patriotically  paint  their  barrows  in 
the  national  colours.  In  red  and  yellow  stripes,  handle 
the  orange  business  and  the  recently  Introduced 
banana,  which  is  scrubby  and  tasteless  and  costs  two 
and  three  sous  apiece. 

Spring  vegetables  were  really  winter  vegetables, 
and  came  from  across  the  Mediterranean  from  Al- 


FOREIGN  MARKETS  AND  MARKETING     69 

geria  so  early  that  there  was  scarcely  any  break  in 
their  continuity  from  one  year's  end  to  another. 
The  highly  prized  and  expensive  burr  artichoke,  with 
us  what  is  called  "  French,"  is  the  staple  and  most 
common  vegetable  of  the  Mediterranean  countries, 
and  at  times  is  almost  an  encumberer  of  the  markets 
at  a  sou  or  two  apiece,  while  the  eggplant  runs  it  a 
close  second  at  a  similar  price. 

Most  vegetables  are  sold  by  weight.  The  mer- 
chant under  the  red  umbrella  weighs  your  potatoes 
on  a  primitive  brass  scale  (which  is  probably  quite 
unreliable)  which  she  balances  by  hand,  and  in  the 
manipulating  becomes  so  expert  that  if  one  adopted 
the  tactics  of  the  good  English  housekeeper  and 
weighed  the  purchases  over  again  at  home,  the  error 
might  not  always  be  found  in  the  seller's  favour. 
Figs  are  an  exception  and  are  carefully  counted  out 
by  the  dozen,  big  purple  ones  and  the  choice  grey 
varieties.  There  is  also  the  Barbary  fig,  which  has 
been  brought  across  from  Africa,  in  other  words,  the 
prickly  pear,  a  diet  which  would  seem  to  us  as  suit- 
able only  for  a  hedgehog,  but  which  in  reality  is  the 
staple  food  with  the  Arab  and  much  liked  by  the 
southern  French,  and  indeed,  is  not  at  all  bad  when 
one  learns  to  like  it. 

You  discover  a  fat  snail  climbing  up  your  gown, 
and  find  that  you  have  reached  the  place  where  snails 
are  sold,  and  that  you  have  captured  a  stray  one  from 
a  lot  which  have  been  turned  out  to  graze  on  a  straw 
mat  smeared  with  some  sort  of  stickiness.  There 
are  baskets  of  thousands  of  them  sitting  about,  as 


70        THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

many  clinging  to  the  outside  as  are  inside.  Moving 
slowly,  they  do  not  stray  far,  but  personal  contact 
is  not  agreeable.  Snails  may  seem  dear  at  a  franc 
a  dozen  if  one  has  not  the  gout  for  them.  These 
are  not  the  common,  garden-destroying  kind,  but  a 
special  breed  that  is  hunted  in  thickets  at  night  by 
the  light  of  a  lantern,  or  fattened  in  a  pen  of  logs 
covered  with  a  wire  netting.  Luxuries  they  are, 
however,  and  are  so  regarded  by  the  French,  and 
some  few  of  the  rest  of  us. 

Near  the  snails  is  the  vendor  of  wild  herbs,  where 
for  a  few  sous  you  may  buy  a  variety  of  weeds  out 
of  which  to  make  one  of  the  fifty  or  more  kinds  of 
tizanes,  or  herb  teas.  The  French  love  to  dose  them- 
selves on  these  brews,  one  or  another  of  which  is 
warranted  to  ease  most  of  the  ills  of  flesh.  There 
are  also  the  sweet-scented  mountain  plants,  wild 
lavender,  thyme  and  the  like,  good  for  laying  away 
among  clothes  to  keep  out  insects. 

In  the  spring  you  can  buy  young  plants  already 
rooted  with  which  to  stock  your  flower  or  vegetable 
garden,  and  three-day-old  little  chicks  at  a  franc 
apiece  and  goslings  at  a  little  more.  Thus  is  saved 
much  preliminary  work  for  the  amateur  farmer  and 
bird  fancier. 

From  the  big  stall  owners  you  work  down  the  long 
line  to  where  the  small  vendors  sit.  These,  for  the 
most  part,  have  only  a  meagre  little  handful  of  stuff 
grown  in  a  tiny  garden  shaded  by  a  couple  of  olive 
trees.  One  old  woman  sits  knitting  with  a  single 
white  hen   resting  contentedly  on   her  knee,   while 


FOREIGN  MARKETS  AND  MARKETING     71 

another  has  only  a  bunch  of  wild  flowers  picked 
by  the  roadside,  another  a  queerly  assorted  basket 
whose  contents  are  cherries  and  a  pair  of  guinea  pigs, 
the  latter  being  a  great  delicacy  with  the  country 
French,  and  not  dear  at  a  franc  and  a  half  a  pair. 

There  are  strawberries  eight  months  of  the  year, 
sometimes  tied  up  in  cabbage  leaves  that  they  may 
not  wilt,  or  they  are  the  little  wild  strawberry  sold 
in  earthen  jars  covered  with  a  cornucopia  of  paper, 
more  prized  than  the  cultivated  variety  and  selling 
at  nearly  double  the  price. 

In  the  winter  come  in  the  olives,  green  and  black, 
and  chestnuts,  out  of  which  the  Italian  population 
makes  flour.  In  summer  there  is  a  red  riot  of  to- 
matoes at  two  cents  a  pound,  and  melons  of  many 
shades,  none  of  the  latter  being  particularly  cheap 
at  a  franc. 

The  flower  stalls  are  brilliant  in  this  southern 
country.  Even  among  the  vegetable  dealers  a  few 
flowers  can  always  be  picked  up.  This  mingling  of 
flowers  and  green  stuff  for  the  table  is  the  great  charm 
of  many  European  markets,  particularly  those  around 
the  Mediterranean,  where  for  a  few  cents  a  day  the 
house  can  be  kept  in  flowers  the  year  round. 

Here  in  Toulon's  open-air  market  cheap  butchers 
sell  to  the  cheap  trade  queer  cuts  of  equivocal-looking 
meat,  and  Italian  women  make  a  business  of  the 
manufacture  of  ravioli — macaroni  stuffed  with  meat 
and  herbs — for  the  same  class  of  trade.  You  pass 
this  end  of  the  market  by.  There  are  booths  that 
sell  all  kinds  of  drygoods,  and  a  corner  is  devoted 


72       THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

to  miscellaneous  rubbish,  ranging  from  odd  shoes 
to  rusty  keys. 

By  ten  o'clock  a  dense  crowd  surges  between  the 
booths,  mistresses  and  their  attendant  bonnes,  maids 
alone,  eagerly  looking  out  for  their  *'  commission," 
each  armed  with  either  a  basket  or  filet.  When  the 
lady  of  the  house  attempts  to  carry  her  own  pur- 
chases it  is  always  In  a  cloth  bag,  often  nicely  em- 
broidered ;  the  filet  Is  the  badge  of  the  servant.  This 
is  one  of  the  nice  little  distinctions  to  be  observed. 

Officers  from  the  warships  at  anchor  in  the  Roads 

X' 


are  there  buying  for  their  mess,  with  two  blue-jackets 
trailing  behind,  swinging  a  big  overweighted  basket 
between  them.  A  three-starred  admiral,  with  much 
gold  braid,  may  be  seen  selecting  and 'trarrylng  away 
himself  an  especially  fine  lot  of  cherries  for  his 
dejeuner,  with  a  charming  absence  of  any  false  pride. 
Weaving  in  and  out  like  shuttles  are  the  beignet 
sellers,  this  particular  kind  of  beignet  being  great 
flat  cakes  baked  In  gigantic  pie  dishes  and  sold  at  a 
sou  a  slice. 

The  market  finally  fritters  out  to  the  cheap  end, 
where  the  riff-raff  can  pick  out  doubtful  bargains 
from  amongst  the  bruised  and  damaged  stuff.     By 


FOREIGN  MARKETS  AND  MARKETING     73 

noon  everything  must  be  cleared  away,  and  now  Is 
the  time  for  low  prices.  Things  that  won't  keep 
over  to  be  sold  as  seconds  the  next  day  are  cut  down 
to  almost  gift  prices.  Carts  come  along  in  due  time 
and  gather  up  the  empty  baskets,  stalls  are  torn  down 
and  carried  away  and  the  street  sweepers  appear  with 
their  brooms,  picturesquely  clad  and  kerchiefed 
Italian  women.  In  another  hour  not  a  cabbage  leaf 
is  to  be  seen. 

Near  Toulon's  principal  market,  in  the  aptly  named 
Place  de  la  Poissonnerie,  Is  the  fish  market,  where  the 
best  of  the  Mediterranean  finny  tribe  lie  in  damp 
beds  of  seaweed,  the  only  method  of  keeping  them 
fresh  being  to  pour  water  over  them.  The  fish 
dealers  sit  with  their  feet  on  a  petit-banc  or  foot-stool, 
out  of  reach  of  the  soused  pavement,  blagueing  and 
blackguarding  their  neighbours,  too  indolent  and 
Ignorant  of  business  methods  to  care  if  one  buys  or 
not. 

One  of  the  sights  of  Germany  is  the  goose  market 
at  Friedrlchfelde,  a  little  village  near  Berlin.  Here 
are  gathered  geese  from  all  parts  of  Europe,  and 
five  million  foreign  and  domestic  birds  are  sold  each 
year.  The  goose  Is  the  national  bird  of  the  German 
dinner  table,  and  however  the  German  housekeeper 
may  scrimp  all  the  week  there  must  always  be  a  gans 
for  the  Sunday  dinner. 

Every  day  from  twenty  to  thirty  thousand  squawk- 
ing, hissing  geese  are  brought  to  this  great  wholesale 
market,  chiefly  In  slatted  crates,  by  train  from  all  over 
eastern  Europe.     During  the  summer,  Germany  can 


74        THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

furnish  her  own  supply,  but  in  the  winter,  train  loads 
are  brought  from  Holland,  where,  the  season  being 
milder,  the  geese  are  more  easily  bred.  In  the  late 
summer  they  come  in  large  numbers  from  Russia  and 
Poland,  being  driven  along  the  road  and  their  num- 
bers added  to  as  they  pass  through  the  villages.  At 
the  frontier  they  are  loaded  on  to  box  cars  in  four- 
story  crates  and  forwarded  by  fast  freight  to  the 
central  market.  For  four  or  five  days  they  travel 
without  food  or  drink,  hence  it  is  small  wonder  that 
a  nervous,  bad-tempered  lot  of  geese  usually  await 
the  buyers.  Each  buyer  carries  a  shepherd's  crook 
with  which  he  singles  out  his  purchases  by  the  neck. 
The  market  is  controlled  by  a  syndicate,  and  strict 
measures  are  taken  to  insure  only  a  healthy  product, 
a  corps  of  inspectors  being  employed  to  examine  the 
health  of  the  birds,  doubtful  cases  being  quarantined 
for  six  weeks,  while  those  manifestly  diseased  are 
destroyed  at  once. 

They  are  young,  these  much-travelled  geese,  aver- 
aging from  five  to  eight  months,  and  are  bought  in 
the  market  for  eighty  cents  to  a  dollar,  according 
to  weight.  After  they  are  fattened  for  a  month  or 
two  on  the  best  barley  and  green  stuff,  they  bring 
nearly  two  dollars  and  a  half  and  weigh  from  ten 
to  twelve  pounds. 

The  method  of  fattening  to  produce  the  diseased 
livers  which  are  used  to  fabricate  the  pate-de-foie- 
gras  rather  destroys  one's  taste  for  this  delicacy. 
The  geese  are  nailed  down  by  their  feet  so  that  ex- 
ercise may  not  interfere  with  their  putting  on  flesh, 


FOREIGN  MARKETS  AND  MARKETING     75 

when,  at  regular  intervals,  they  are  stuffed  by  a 
machine,  their  stomachs  being  nicely  massaged  at 
the  same  time.  Nothing  is  left  to  the  vagaries  of 
the  natural  appetite.  Strassbourg  has  the  reputation 
of  turning  out  the  best  grade  of  pate-de-foie-gras, 
but  it  is  made  all  over  Germany  with  success, 
and  while  the  fattening  process  may  not  always 
be  so  barbarous,  forced  feeding  is  generally  re- 
sorted to. 

London  goes  to  market  at  Covent  Garden,  the 
one  district  which  is  astir  early.  Six  o'clock  is  late 
and  at  eight  the  bargain  hunters  begin  to  be  seen. 
At  ten  the  garbage  is  being  swept  up  and  picked 
over  by  street  combers,  and  before  noon  this  heart  of 
old  London  is  deserted. 

The  actual  area  of  Covent  Garden  seems  small 
to  encompass  the  central  food  supply  of  the  world's 
biggest  city  until  one  notices  that  it  really  trickles 
through  the  ramifications  of  a  maze  of  neighbouring 
streets.  Stalls,  push-carts,  wagons,  costers  and  their 
donkeys,  and  barrows  with  peddlers  of  all  ranks 
link  up  Holborn  and  the  Strand  by  a  livid  stream  of 
humanity  and  its  paraphernalia  in  a  most  amazing 
fashion.  All  the  stall  owners  pay  a  tax  for  the 
privilege  of  selling  produce  in  London  streets  here- 
abouts as  a  ground  rental  to  the  Duke  of  Bedford, 
London's  largest  landowner.  Covent  Garden  and 
the  surrounding  streets  are  his  property,  as  well  as 
the  houses  which  line  them,  and  the  enormous  ren- 
tals pay  a  truly  royal  tribute  to  the  wealthiest  of 
Britain's  peers. 


76        THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

London  markets  in  general  are  perhaps  the  dear- 
est in  Europe.  Continental  Europe  and  North 
Africa  are  Britain's  market  gardens,  though  the  Eng- 
lish housekeeper  still  clings  fondly  to  the  belief  that 
whatever  is  grown  in  her  own  country  is  the  best, 
the  shopkeeper  encouraging  her  in  this  delusion. 
The  catch  phrase  in  the  English  shop  is,  "  Best 
English,  ma'am,''  though  the  produce  may  be  aspar- 
agus from  Provence,  little  potatoes  from  Brittany, 
tomatoes  from  Algeria  or  eggs  and  butter  from  Den- 
mark and  Norway.  In  spite  of  all  this  the  English 
housekeeper  will  readily  pay  more  for  produce  grown 
at  home  than  for  that  which  comes  from  across  the 
Channel,  the  North  Sea  or  the  Mediterranean.  This 
is  not  because  the  quality  is  actually  superior,  but 
because  it  is  home-grown,  though  this  may  be  preju- 
dice quite  as  much  as  patriotism. 

Covent  Garden  market  has  its  chief  picturesque 
element  in  its  costers  and  their  environment.  The 
coster  in  his  velveteens  with  many  rows  of  "  pearlies  " 
heaps  up  his  tiny  barrow,  drawn  by  his  faithful 
"  moke,"  and  perambulates  green  stuff  through  Lon- 
don's East  End,  accompanied  by  his  "  Harriet,"  the 
couple  forming  the  typical  'Arry  and  'Arriet  of  the 
comic  papers.  Like  most  picturesque  survivals,  mod- 
ern life  is  ironing  him  down  to  the  flat  ugliness  of 
the  average  London  type,  and  his  be-buttoned  cos- 
tume is  fast  changing  into  the  commonplace  garb 
of  the  British  workingman,  though  his  partner  still 
flaunts  her  hat  of  bedraggled  plumes,  which  is  always 
in  fashion  among  her  kind.     She  buys  these  plumes 


01  -"j^iJ  i      i 


tiff     n 


1 


A  Mediterranean  Market 


tCtcic^c'e' 


FOREIGN  MARKETS  AND  MARKETING     77 

through  a  "feather  club"  by  paying  a  weekly  in- 
stalment. No  more  unsuitable  feminine  head  adorn- 
ment for  one  of  her  class  could  be  conceived  than  an 
ostrich  plume,  which,  by  the  very  order  of  things, 
is  most  unsuitable  for  the  misty,  moisty  climate  of 
the  banks  of  London's  river. 

The  coster  barrow-vendor  buys  cheap  stuff  to  be- 
gin with,  and  sells  cheaply  too,  so  that  his  margin 
of  profit  is  slight,  but  he  will  go  hungry  before  his 
"  moke  '*  will,  and  he  treats  the  little  animal  better 
by  far  than  he  does  his  own  family  when  it  comes 
to  distributing  favours  amongst  them. 

Weights  and  measures  with  the  English  small 
shopkeeper  are  queer  and  untrustworthy.  Not  long 
ago  a  bitter  discussion  was  carried  on  through  the 
press  on  the  subject,  and  the  defence  of  the  market- 
man  was  not  a  denial  so  much  as  an  excuse  that  he 
had  to  make  up  somewhere  for  the  long  credit  sys- 
tem that  prevails  among  the  clientele  of  all  classes 
of  traders.  This  made  for  losses  which  could  not 
otherwise  be  met. 

The  cost  of  living  Is  a  factor  here  which  is  being 
discussed  In  Its  higher  reaches.  A  scarcity  of  food 
of  certain  kinds  accounts  for  some  of  this,  an  ex- 
travagant attitude  towards  life  for  more,  and  the 
actual  conditions  of  luxury  and  convenience  under 
which  the  food  supply  is  purveyed  in  this  twentieth 
century  for  much  more.  The  thing  is  noticeable  in 
England,  in  Germany,  in  France  and  even  in  Italy. 
There  is  no  monopoly  of  this  state  of  affairs  In 
America ;  all  classes  all  over  the  world  are  feeling  It, 


78        THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

but  are  doing  very  little  that  might  really  combat 
it  successfully. 

In  England  one  buys  fowls  and  fish  in  the  same 
shop.  Ice  is  a  luxury  that  can  often  only  be  had  of 
the  fishmonger,  and  as  a  favour  on  the  part  of  that 
usually  high-handed  individual.  Such  a  small  lump 
as  one  may  get  for  a  few  cents  melts  into  a  mere 
spot  of  dampness  by  the  time  it  is  delivered  and 
seems  hardly  worth  the  while.  If  one  buys  any- 
thing of  an  exotic  nature  in  England  it  costs  money. 
To  depend  upon  a  purely  British  home-market  bill 
of  fare,  on  the  other  hand,  is  monotonous,  for  the 
supply  is  exceedingly  limited  as  well  as  to  variety  as 
to  quantity. 

Successful  shopping  and  marketing  in  Paris  de- 
pends greatly  upon  a  knowledge  of  local  conditions  as 
well  as  a  very  complete  and  true  estimate  of  the  ways 
of  the  shopkeeper  and  greengrocer.  Neither  the 
shopkeeper  nor  the  market  man  or  woman  are  wedded 
to  fixed  prices  as  yet,  at  least  not  all  of  them,  very 
few  in  fact,  so  it  behooves  the  stranger  to  pocket  her 
pride  and  do  a  little  bargaining  on  the  side,  and  beat 
them  down  if  she  can. 

As  a  phase  of  woman's  work,  that  of  the  shop  em- 
ployees of  Paris,  as  well  as  of  those  who  may  sell 
on  their  own  account  from  a  push-cart  or  a  market- 
stall,  is  an  interesting  study.  Its  like  exists  in  no 
other  land. 

In  the  lowest  merchandising  scale  are  the  ven- 
deuses  ambulantes,  the  push-cart  sellers,  whose  stock 
in  trade  may  be  fresh  vegetables,  coal  and  wood,  or 


FOREIGN  MARKETS  AND  MARKETING     79 

thread  and  needles  and  odds  and  ends  of  so-called 
"  bankrupt  stocks  "  of  drygoods.  There  are  sup- 
posedly six  thousand  of  this  class  of  *'  shopkeepers  ** 
in  Paris,  and  they  all  make  known  their  wares  by 
the  most  strident  and  unmusical  cries. 

Of  all  this  noisy  crew  the  only  class  which  ever 
had  any  interest  for  us  was  the  marchande  de  quatre 
saisons,  or  fresh  vegetable  dealers,  of  whom  we  oc- 
casionally bought  supplies  instead  of  going  to  the 
greengrocer's  on  the  corner.  '^  Pois  Ferts,  Pots 
Ferts/'  or  ^^  J'ai  de  la  cerise,  de  la  belle  cerise — Cerise 
douce y*  or  '' ha  Faience,  la  belle  Faience^  meaning 
green  peas,  cherries  or  oranges.  These  are  the 
sounds  one  hears  in  the  quartiers  of  Paris,  but  they 
are  by  no  means  the  only  harmonious  notes  to  be 
picked  out  of  the  chorus. 

All  these  hard-working  women,  for  their  risks  are 
great  and  their  profits  small,  are  possessed  of  a  per- 
mit from  the  Prefet  of  Police  and  wear  In  a  con- 
spicuous place,  frequently  attached  to  their  belts,  an 
enormous  numbered  plaque  as  a  sort  of  guarantee  of 
identification  if  not  of  responsibility.  One  woman 
of  this  class  will  often  make  her  rounds  throughout 
the  year,  varying  her  agricultural  merchandise  accord- 
ing to  the  four  seasons,  hence  their  familiar  name. 

These  ambulant  orange,  fish,  vegetable  or  flower 
sellers  make  their  provision  at  the  great  central 
markets,  Les  Halles,  around  four  In  the  morning, 
buying  from  a  commission  dealer  a  certain  quantity 
per  day,  or  often  combining  among  themselves  and 
taking  a  truck  load  at  specially  favourable  prices, 


8o        THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

assuming  of  course  an  additional  risk  if  the  quantity 
be  large  or  their  numbers  few. 

Their  stocks  are  displayed  with  a  barbaric  sort 
of  taste,  and  with  their  heavy  load  they  are  soon 
ready  to  start  out  on  their  rounds,  in  many  cases  after 
having  pushed  their  carts  four  or  five  miles  across 
town,  each  to  her  own  particular  quarter. 

At  noon  these  wandering  women  are  supposed,  in 
accordance  with  the  law,  to  retire  from  the  public 
thoroughfares,  and  it  is  at  this  moment,  or  there- 


abouts, that  one  is  able  to  buy  at  the  lowest  prices, 
if  indeed  one  is  willing  to  run  the  risk  of  still  being 
able  to  find  a  fresh  and  varied  assortment,  which  of 
course  sometimes  happens,  though,  on  the  other  hand, 
a  stock  of  fish  or  lettuces  and  other  aliments  of  a 
like  nature  that  has  been  trundled  through  dusty 
streets  for  six  or  eight  hours  can  hardly  be  of  the 
highest  sanitary  value  as  food. 

A  woman  from  thirty  to  thirty-five  years  of  age, 
at  this  hard  labour,  may  gain  as  much  as  two  and  a 
half  francs  a  day  if  she  meets  with  no  engulfing  losses 


FOREIGN  MARKETS  AND  MARKETING     8i 

caused  by  unsold  stocks.  Their  little  carts,  charettes, 
are,  for  the  most  part,  hired  by  the  day  at  twelve 
or  fifteen  sous. 

Another  class  of  vendeuses^  more  miserable  still, 
and  whose  merchandise,  so  far  as  edibles  go,  is  often 
in  a  still  more  dubious  condition,  but  frequently  a 
little  cheaper  in  price,  is  that  which  sells  from  a  great 
basket  carried  on  the  arm  and  hip,  or  perhaps  on  the 
head.  They  gain  perhaps  a  franc  a  day  net  at  the 
occupation,  and  with  such  modest  ambitions  are  natu- 
rally not  of  a  class  noted  for  their  probity  in  com- 
mercial transactions. 

The  marchands  de  plaisirs  are  a  Paris  institution 
and  may  be  men,  women  or  boys.  They  are  the 
sellers  of  children's  toys,  balloons,  mechanical  toys 
of  little  worth  and  low  prices  and  all  that  sort  of 
thing.  They  are  found  in  their  greatest  numbers  on 
the  Champs  Elysees,  in  the  Gardens  of  the  Tuileries 
and  in  the  Luxembourg  Gardens  on  the  Rive  Gauche. 

Of  the  itinerant  restaurants,  the  Restaurants  des 
Pieds  Humides,  the  Parisian  precursors  of  the  Owl- 
Lunch  Wagons,  there  is  nothing  to  be  recounted  in 
the  way  of  personal  experience  except  that  of  obser- 
vation to  the  purport  that  their  owners  seem  to  be 
in  quite  the  lowest  social  scale  of  tradespeople  in  the 
food  of  man  in  all  Paris,  whether  cooked  or  un- 
cooked. 

The  coffee  sellers  of  course  pursue  a  less  harmful 
course,  but  even  they  are  falsifiers  in  that  they  do 
not  sell  coffee  per  se,  at  least  not  pure  coffee.  They 
claim  that  the  midnight  taste  is  not  for  pure  coffee 


82        THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

(at  two  sous  a  mug  it  should  be  noted) ,  and  probably 
it  isn't.  There  is  even  something  besides  chicory  in 
it  according  to  the  "  pure  food  "  investigators. 

One  species  of  small  shopkeeper,  as  much  an  in- 
digenous Paris  product  as  the  "  cocher,"  is  the  news- 
dealer. Sometimes  she  is  a  shopkeeper,  in  a  very 
small  way,  when  she  is  privileged  to  sell  what  she 
likes  within  certain  bounds,  but  if  she  occupies  one 
of  those  quaintly  picturesque  "  kiosques  "  which  are 
found  chiefly  along  the  boulevards,  from  Neuilly  to 
Vincennes  and  from  the  Lion  de  Belfort  to  the 
Montmartre,  she  must  confine  her  sales  to  magazines 
and  newspapers  and  may  not  include  even  the  pop- 
ular picture  post-card. 

The  cheese  merchants,  the  milk  dealers  and  the 
pastry  cooks  are  all  of  the  small  shopkeeping  hier- 
archy which  is  such  an  interesting  phase  of  foreign 
life  to  the  stranger. 

In  France,  these  professions  are,  for  various 
reasons,  as  interesting  as  anywhere,  the  more  so  that 
they  deal  with  certain  minor  phases  of  life  which  in 
a  more  commercial  world  are  handled  on  a  much 
larger  scale.  This  is  the  more  apparent  when  one 
considers  how  very  cut  up  these  small  industries  are. 
You  go  to  a  triperie  to  buy  tripe,  but  you  go  to  a 
charcuterie  to  buy  sausage,  and  not  always  do  you 
find  butter,  eggs  and  milk  in  the  same  shop.  The 
keeping  of  the  small  grocery  and  a  little  mercerie, 
where  are  to  be  found  the  odds  and  ends  of  the 
sewing  basket,  form  two  other  feminine  occupations. 
Their  proprietors  struggle  with  the  competition  of 


FOREIGN  MARKETS  AND  MARKETING     83 

the  great  universal  food  and  drygoods  providers 
until  one  wonders  that  their  profits  can  be  sufficient 
to  pay  the  rent,  let  alone  a  living.  Because  they  exist 
one  patronises  them  occasionally,  in  the  same  familiar 
way  that  one  goes  to  the  general  store  of  a  New 
England  village  for  a  piece  of  soap,  some  salt  or  a 
paper  of  pins,  for  these  items  at  least  seem  to  be 
out  of  the  competitive  class. 

Nothing  can  be  more  charmingly  interesting  than 
the  markets  of  some  of  the  old  Swiss  towns,  where 
the  main  street  is  the  usual  market  place.  Market- 
ing in  Geneva  is  a  real  feat  of  daring,  accomplished 
in  the  intervals  between  dodging  the  motor  cars  of 
tourists  and  a  double  line  of  street-cars  with  which 
it  shares  one  of  the  principal  thoroughfares. 

Rumour  says  that  Geneva  is  going  to  abolish  its 
picturesque  street  markets;  the  picturesque  seems 
never  to  be  practical,  and  the  old  city  of  Calvin  is 
so  slicking  up  that  it  is  beginning  to  look  as  unin- 
teresting as  the  capital  city  of  a  new-made  state. 
When  it  comes  to  a  choice  between  the  white-capped 
market  women  and  their  quaint  baskets  and  a  trolley 
car,  the  wishes  of  the  stranger  might  be  consulted 
by  the  authorities  who  are  supposed  to  care  for  the 
prosperity  of  their  constituencies. 

Could  any  one  forget  the  market  at  Berne?  The 
spouting  waters  from  the  grotesque  mediaeval  foun- 
tains splash  over  the  green  stuff  which  has  been 
painfully  drawn  from  nearby  farms  in  small  carts, 
man  and  wife  pulling  side  by  side  with  the  faith- 
ful  dog.     Transportation,   when   it   comes   to   the 


84        THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

food  of  the  table,  Is  a  mixed  problem  everywhere. 
At  a  certain  Breton  market  one  has  seen  women  tak- 
ing sheep  to  market  singly  in  a  wheelbarrow,  head 
and  legs  tied  down.  The  Swiss  cheeses  come  down 
from  the  lofty  mountain  chalets,  born  aloft,  singly, 
too,  on  the  shoulders  of  a  sturdy  mountaineer,  held 
on  a  sort  of  a  small,  short-legged  table,  the  latter 
resting  on  the  man's  shoulders,  the  table  being  placed 
over  his  head  with  the  cheese  on  top. 

In  general,  marketing  is  dear  in  Switzerland,  the 
cost  of  food  having  gone  up  in  some  parts  as  much 
as  fifty  per  cent  In  recent  years.  This  has  undoubt- 
edly been  caused  here  by  the  great  expansion  of  the 
tourist  traffic  which  now  brings  strangers  to  Switzer- 
land the  year  round — in  winter  for  the  snow  sports — 
in  numbers  as  large  as  when  they  formerly  came  in 
summer  only. 

If  one  is  wintering  at  Nice  on  the  Riviera,  market- 
ing may  be  said  to  be  one  of  the  supreme  attractions 
as  one  strolls  along  under  the  long  rows  of  white 
umbrellas  which  line  certain  of  the  back  streets  not 
far  from  the  more  exclusive  and  elegant  Place  Mas- 
sena  and  the  Promenade  des  Anglais. 

Nice  is  the  winter  flower  market  of  all  Europe. 
You  may  buy  a  basket  of  carnations  and  violets  for 
a  few  francs  which  would  cost  as  many  dollars  on 
Broadway  or  Wabash  Avenue.  An  institution  of 
the  markets  of  Nice  is  the  band  of  little  porteuses, 
one  of  whom  will  carry  home  for  you,  in  a  flat  basket 
balanced  nicely  on  her  head,  all  that  you  may  pur- 
chase in  an  hour's  round.     The  cost  is  but  a  few 


FOREIGN  MARKETS  AND  MARKETING     85 

sous,  and  she  will  follow  your  footsteps  the  whole 
morning  and  then  get  home  before  you  do  with  her 
burden.  Each  basket  bears  a  numbered  plaque,  for 
she  is  a  licensed  porter,  and  a  small  tax  is  paid  to 
the  municipal  authorities  for  the  privilege  of  plying 
her  trade. 

The  flower  and  vegetable  and  fish  markets  of 
Marseilles  are  a  revelation  to  one  who  has  known 
only  the  conventional  market  stall.  Seemingly  miles 
of  this  assorted  food  line  many  of  the  streets  near 
the  very  centre  of  the  city,  and  down  along  the 
famous  Vieux  Port,  where  the  fish  and  shellfish  are 
spread  out  for  view,  there  is  an  unrealness  about  it 
all  that  is  as  if  one  saw  it  in  a  dream,  particularly 
at  night,  when  all  Is  aglow  with  flaming  torches  like 
a  page  preserved  out  of  mediaevalism. 

In  Italy,  Spain,  Algeria  and  Tunisia  there  is  a 
wealth  of  colour  in  the  markets,  and  the  throng  which 
goes  to  give  the  life  and  movement  of  a  sixteenth- 
century  civilisation  living  in  the  land  of  to-day.  The 
keynote  of  it  all  is  kaleidoscopic.  They  are  sur- 
rounded by  an  individuality  and  freedom  of  man- 
ners unknown  in  our  own  land  where  even  the  pur- 
chase of  a  box  of  berries,  a  pound  of  butter  or  the 
provender  of  the  winter's  supply  for  a  whole  house- 
hold is  accomplished  as  the  result  of  a  mere  hello 
call  over  the  telephone. 

The  element  of  picturesqueness  certainly  lends  a 
charm  from  the  aesthetic  viewpoint,  and  the  procedure 
Is  Indeed  interesting.  That  marketing  in  the  Euro- 
pean fashion  is  a  more  satisfactory  method  than  our 


86        THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

own,  or  less  so,  is  all  a  matter  of  individual  opinion 
and  the  conditions  under  which  one  may  momentarily 
be  living.  At  all  events  it  lends  variety  and  a  pleas- 
urable occupation  to  one's  life  abroad,  and  that  is 
one  of  the  chief  reasons  why  one  leaves  home  and 
settles  in  a  foreign  land  in  the  first  instance. 


r  1 

Some  HousekGepin9  Experiences 


'^^l*ss 


C;^  COTTAGE //2 
.KENT. 


1 5^ COUNTRY  HOUSE 
in  NORMANDY 


1^:^ VILLA  o/i^e  f 
MEDITERRANEANV 


INCENTIVE  FOR  HOME  LIFE  ABROAD 

THE  ALLURING  ENGLISH  COUNTRYSIDE 

RENTING  IN  ENGLAND 

OUR  COTTAGE  IN  KENT 

MOVING  IN 

SERVANT  QUESTION 

FOOD  SUPPLY 

SOCIAL  AMENITIES 

HOUSEHUNTING  IN  FRANCE 

OUR  NORMAN  COUNTRY  HOUSE 

FURNISHING 

A  "  BONNE  A  TOUT  FAIRE  " 

MARKETS  AND  MARKETING 

"  BLANCHISSEUSE  VS.  LAVEUSE  " 

NORMAN  CIDER 

HOW  WE  LOST  OUR  HOUSE 

WHERE  FASHIONABLE  EUROPE  WINTERS 

A  LAND  OF  VILLAS 

HOUSE  HUNTING  BY  AUTOMOBILE 


LIFE  BY  THE  BLUE  MEDITERRANEAN 

HOUSEKEEPING  ON  THE  RIVIERA 

"  BOUILLABAISSE,  GARLIC  AND  OLIVES  " 

WHAT  THE  MAN  THOUGHT  ABOUT  IT 

HOW  THE  WOMAN  SUMMED  IT  UP 

THE  CHARM  OF  HOUSEKEEPING  ABROAD 


IV 

SOME  HOUSEKEEPING  EXPERIENCES 

In  the  majority  of  cases  housekeeping  abroad  for 
the  American  woman  is  merely  an  episode,  brought 
about  by  a  spirit  of  adventure  or  the  desire  for  nov- 
elty, or,  more  often  perhaps,  that  longing  for  a 
hearthstone  latent  in  the  most  inveterate  feminine 
globe-trotter,  even  though  it  be  a  temporary  one,  rep- 
resented by  a  British  grate,  a  German  porcelain  stove, 
an  Italian  copper  brasier  of  charcoal,  or  the  Pro- 
vengaPs  apology  for  its  cheerful  glow — the  smoulder- 
ing root  of  an  olive  tree. 

The  woman  in  the  case  may  be  a  mother  whose 
daughters  are  "  studying  "  something  or  other,  and 
she  feels  it  her  duty  to  provide  a  home  atmosphere 
for  the  *' girls*';  again  she  may  belong  to  that  in- 
creasing class  of  American  wanderers  who  have  con- 
tracted the  "  European  habit,"  and,  becoming  sur- 
feited with  sights  and  shopping,  turns  to  the  making 
of  a  home  as  a  welcome  relief.  It  may  be  that  the 
cost  of  living  at  home  has  induced  her  to  move  the 
family  across  the  ocean  in  the  hopes  of  finding  that 
cheap  living  abroad  of  which  she  has  heard  such  glow- 
ing accounts.  That  phase  of  the  question,  however,  is 
dealt  with  in  another  chapter. 

Whatever  may  be  the  incentive,  it  not  infrequently 

«9 


90        THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

happens  that  when  the  woman  traveller  lingers  in  a 
foreign  land  for  a  longer  period  than  the  conven- 
tional few  months  of  feverish  touring,  her  domestic 
instincts  begin  to  assert  themselves,  spurred  on  by  a 
natural  curiosity  to  get  behind  the  scenes  and  study 
the  workings  of  a  domestic  machinery  so  different 
from  that  at  home,  its  oftimes  archaic  features  being 
only  an  added  fascination,  which,  it  must  be  confessed, 
is  apt  to  fade  away  when  given  the  personal  test. 

By  this  time  she  has  become  wearied  of  the  banal 
pension  or  the  conventional  hotel,  and  finds  herself 
wondering  whether  domestic  architecture  may  not  be 
as  interesting  as  cathedrals,  and  markets  as  fascinat- 
ing as  "  old  masters  "  if  studied  with  the  same  amount 
of  fervour — so  some  day  she  goes  house-hunting. 

But  more  often  the  courage  of  the  intending  house- 
keeper fails;  she  fears  to  open  what  may  be  a  Pan- 
dora's box  of  unknown  troubles,  and  in  consequence 
her  villa  by  the  blue  Mediterranean,  or  country  house 
among  the  leafy  lanes  of  old  England,  remains  one 
of  those  aerial  buildings  that  even  the  aeroplane  can- 
not reach. 

However,  if  the  woman  touring  abroad  has  time 
for  the  domestic  experiment,  and  enters  upon  it  with 
an  open  mind,  regarding  it  either  as  a  lark  or  an 
educational  experience,  according  to  temperament,  she 
should,  by  all  means,  try  it.  Thus  she  will  get  a  peep 
behind  the  stage-setting  arranged  for  the  tourist,  and 
an  insight  into  things  not  starred  by  Baedeker,  but 
no  less  entertaining  and  instructive.  It  is  amazing 
the  difference  in  the  viewpoint  between  the  home  and 


SOME  HOUSEKEEPING  EXPERIENCES       91 

the  hotel,  and  it  should  not  be  missed  if  one  really 
wants  to  know  a  country  intimately. 


The  first  of  these  three  minor  housekeeping  ex- 
periments was  made  in  England.  Nowhere  does 
country  life  make  so  strong  an  appeal  as  it  does  in 
the  mellow,  finished  English  countryside.  At  once 
imagination  flashes  up  pictures  of  Elizabethan  manor 
houses,  Queen  Anne  mansions,  old  timbered  cottages, 
velvet  lawns  and  the  ideal  garden;  while,  to  the 
American  housekeeper,  who  recalls  her  struggles  in 
the  sign  language  with  the  newly  arrived  Hungarian 
girl,  it  opens  up  a  vision  of  trained  servants  to  whom 
the  service  is  a  profession  and  not  mere  incident  in 
their  careers.  On  the  other  hand,  it  must  not  be 
overlooked  in  the  yearning  for  a  taste  of  home  life 
in  the  little  British  island,  that  a  superior  service 
does  not  always  bridge  over  a  lack  of  conveniences, 
nor  do  picturesque  surroundings  altogether  compen- 
sate for  comforts  which  have  become  necessities  In 
the  American  household  and  are  more  than  likely  to 
be  wanting  in  the  English  house,  either  great  or  small. 

The  romantic  manor-house  is  not  likely  to  be 
heated,  and  the  American  tenant,  accustomed  to  being 
parboiled  between  steam  radiators,  finds  that  the  chills 
of  centuries  in  its  stone  walls  are  but  illy  dispelled  by 


92        THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

the  deceptively  comfortable  looking  open  fire.  As 
to  the  plumbing,  it  may  be  thrilling  to  recall  that  it 
is  the  same  that  was  installed  in  the  time  of  a  Tudor 
King,  but  scarcely  hygienic  to  have  under  one's  roof. 
Again,  more  often  than  not,  is  the  rose-bowered  cot- 
tage without  running  water,  and  the  bathroom  non- 
existent (the  English  practice  of  "tubbing"  by  no 
means  implies  the  existence  of  a  bathroom).  But 
if  the  American  woman  is  In  search  of  a  new  sensation 
and  is  philosophical  enough  to  make  the  best  of  exist- 
ing conditions,  the  way  is  made  easy  for  her  to  sam- 
ple, if  she  will,  home  life  under  English  conditions. 

There  is  no  country  where  "  renting  "  Is  reduced 
to  such  a  science  as  in  conservative  England.  The 
Englishman's  house  may  be  his  castle,  but  he  is  seem- 
ingly willing  enough  to  hand  over  its  keys  for  a  con- 
sideration, while  the  Englishwoman,  without  a 
qualm,  will  put  her  most  intimate  household  treasures 
into  the  keeping  of  stranger  hands  with  a  confidence 
and  absence  of  sentiment  difficult  for  the  American 
householder  to  understand — a  part  of  the  secret  prob- 
ably being  that  rented  property  is  here  treated  with  a 
far  greater  respect  than  might  be  supposed. 

The  result  is  that  it  is  a  comparatively  easy  matter, 
if  one  will  but  take  the  trouble  to  look  about,  to  find 
almost  any  style  of  house  that  may  be  wanted  and  for 
almost  any  price,  in  any  one  of  the  counties,  unfur- 
nished, furnished  or  really  furnished,  as  may  be  de- 
sired, even  to  household  linen  and  family  plate.  In 
some  cases  it  Is  possible  to  take  on  the  family  serv- 
ants, an  arrangement  that  would  seem  ideal. 


SOME  HOUSEKEEPING  EXPERIENCES       93 

One  has  only  to  make  a  study  of  the  "  advertise- 
ment pages "  of  the  high  class  English  daily  or 
weekly  journals  to  find  a  most  alluring  list  from  which 
to  make  a  choice,  from  the  "  gentleman's  mansion, 
with  a  banqueting  hall  and  stabling  for  twenty,"  to  a 
moated  grange  with  a  "  ghost  that  walks,"  or  a 
thatched  roof  cottage  with  a  genuine  old  ingle-nook; 
where  there  may  be  ''  an  opportunity  for  hunting  with 
three  packs." 

Arrangements  are  usually  made  through  some  well- 
known  London  firm  of  "  estate  agents,"  though  some- 
times one  deals  directly  with  the  owner;  occasionally 
the  renting  will  be  in  the  hands  of  a  local  agent. 
Then  again,  in  rambling  about  the  country,  one  may 
stumble  upon  just  what  is  wanted,  as  we  did,  which, 
after  all,  is  the  best  way.  Why  not  a  "  House  Hunt- 
ing Tour  of  England  "  as  a  varient  from  the  time- 
honoured  "  Cathedral  Tour  "  ? 

England  being  a  land  of  formalities  there  is  a  cer- 
tain amount  of  red  tape  to  be  untangled,  especially 
in  the  case  of  renting  a  furnished  house  where  inven- 
tories must  be  made,  etc.,  etc.  The  tenant  for  his 
protection  usually  has  an  inventory  made  out  at  his 
own  expense. 

When  in  doubt  it  is  well  to  follow  the  custom  of 
the  country  and  call  in  the  services  of  a  "  solicitor  " 
— In  our  tongue,  a  lawyer.  The  English,  even  in  the 
slightest  business  transaction,  rush  to  their  "  solici- 
tor "  as  chickens  scurry  to  shelter  under  the  mother 
hen's  wing.  For  the  stranger,  in  almost  any  business 
transaction  except  the  simplest,  a  "  solicitor  "  is  al- 


94        THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

most  a  necessity  and  will  save  trouble.  He  will  some 
day  send  a  bill  covering  half  a  dozen  sheets  of  legal 
foolscap,  carefully  itemised  in  clerkly  long-hand,  to 
the  effect  that  a  certain  style  of  letter  written  in  your 
behalf  cost  three  shillings,  sixpence,  another  *'  seven 
and  six,"  etc.,  etc.  But  don't  be  alarmed.  The  bill 
will  probably  not  total  up  more  than  a  few  dollars 
at  most.  Minor  law  is  cheap  in  England;  the  rather 
disconcerting  results  of  such  a  system  are  that  should 
a  dispute  arise  with  the  cook  or  the  washerwoman 
you  will  in  all  probability  find  yourself  "  referred  to 
her  solicitor  "  before  you  are  aware  that  the  matter 
has  become  in  the  least  serious. 

When  the  fogs  of  several  London  winters  drove 
us  into  the  country  for  a  season,  it  was  in  Kent,  the 
garden  county  of  England,  among  its  hop-fields  and 
their  picturesque  *'  oast-houses "  that  we  found 
*'  Rosemary  Cottage,"  typically  English,  with  latticed 
windows,  an  artistic  thatched  roof,  bowered  in  jas- 
mine and  roses.  A  rent  board  leaned  over  the  neatly 
clipped  hedge,  giving  directions  to  apply  to  the 
steward  of  the  nearby  great  estate  of  which  "  Rose- 
mary "  was  a  tiny  faction. 

We  did  so  by  letter,  and  found  that  *'  Rosemary," 
with  all  its  picturesqueness,  six  rooms  and  a  semi- 
detached kitchen — unfurnished — could  be  ours  for 
twenty  pounds  (a  paltry  hundred  dollars)  a  year. 
At  first  blush  it  seemed  as  though  it  were  being  given 
to  us.  We  lost  no  time  in  signing  a  year's  lease,  giv- 
ing as  references  a  London  bank,  and  paid  the  first 
quarter's  rent — hvc  pounds — (rents  being  paid  quar- 


SOME  HOUSEKEEPING  EXPERIENCES       95 

terly  Instead  of  monthly) ,  and  prepared  to  move  in. 

We  took  the  advice  of  seasoned  movers  and  had 
our  furniture  brought  down  from  London,  thirty-five 
miles  away,  In  a  "  pantechnicon  "  by  road.  A  pan- 
technicon bears  some  resemblance  to  a  caricature 
freight  train  that  has  lost  Its  way.  It  consists  of  one 
or  more  covered  vans  drawn  by  a  road  engine  of 
the  "  stone  crusher  '*  type,  which  chugs  painfully 
along  the  highroads  at  what  seems  to  be  the  rate 
of  about  one-and-a-quarter  miles  an  hour.  The  pan- 
technicon Is  slow  and  sure,  like  many  things  English, 
and  Is  the  popular  method,  because  cheap,  of  trans- 
porting household  effects  about  the  country.  It 
seemed  to  answer  the  purpose,  and  In  less  time  than 
might  have  been  expected  our  household  was  duly 
Installed. 

Water  was  **  laid  on,"  as  Is  the  term,  to  the  extent 
of  there  being  a  faucet  Installed  over  the  kitchen  sink. 
This  was  the  private  enterprise  of  our  landlord,  who 
had  It  piped  at  his  own  expense  from  a  local  source 
to  the  houses  on  his  estate,  and  In  this  respect  we  were 
better  off  than  we  should  have  been  In  many  rural 
neighbourhoods.  For  light  there  were  candles,  and 
but  for  our  "Rochester"  burner  (which  we  had 
carried  around  with  us  on  all  our  wanderings)  to 
lighten  the  darkness,  we  would  have  fared  badly. 
The  European  lamp  Is  but  a  poor  substitute,  being 
more  top  heavy  and  monumental  than  luminous. 

It  would  seem  as  though  one  servant  ought  to 
have  sufficed  for  such  a  modest  establishment;  not 
so  in  England,  where  sub-division  of  hpusewprk  ha§ 


96        THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

been  reduced  to  a  fine  art.  Any  overlapping  of  duties 
is  rigidly  tabooed,  and  the  "  general  servant  *'  is  still 
in  the  experimental  stage.  Three  were  necessary 
and  readily  found  in  the  tiny  hamlet  a  quarter  of  a 
mile  away,  though  our  English  friends  had  warned 
us  that  it  might  be  difficult  to  get  servants  in  the 
country  now.  The  servant  bogey  is  apparently  be- 
ginning to  threaten  the  English  housekeeper.  A 
woman  came  in  to  cook,  a  young  girl  as  housemaid 
("Rosemary's"  limited  quarters  would  not  admit 
of  their  "living  in");  and  while  the  cook  would 
whiten  the  doorsteps,  it  required  a  man  (a  gardener) 
to  sweep  off  the  few  feet  of  brick  walk  to  the  front 
gate.  Because  that  came  within  the  gardener's  prov- 
ince! Notwithstanding  that,  the  wages  of  all  three 
did  not  equal  that  demanded  by  "  the  girl  "  at  home. 

It  was  not  long  before  we  found  ourselves  in  the 
grip  of  the  great  problem  of  housekeeping — the  ques- 
tion of  food  supply.  Our  sole  dependence  for  gro- 
ceries and  household  requisites  was  the  one  tiny 
"  general  store,"  where  there  was  little  to  be  had  be- 
yond candles  and  Colman's  mustard.  Its  proprietor 
(who  was  also  the  postmaster)  had  formed  a  trust 
of  one,  and  cornered  the  business  of  the  neighbour- 
hood; consequently,  with  no  competition,  you  had  to 
take,  on  an  emergency,  what  he  had  or  go  without. 

The  only  other  alternative  was  a  three-mile  walk 
to  a  village,  a  shade  larger  than  ours,  where  the  sup- 
plies were  sufficiently  varied  to  include  marmalade 
and  pickled  walnuts.  As  the  inelastic  code  of  Eng- 
lish service  could  not  be  revised  to  meet  these  condi- 


SOME  HOUSEKEEPING  EXPERIENCES        97 

tions  we  ran  our  own  errands;  that  the  walk  lay 
through  our  landlord's  beautiful  home  park  mitigated 
somewhat  against  the  inconvenience. 

This  was  before  the  useful  automobile  had  become 
— as  it  did  later — our  best  ally,  both  in  house-hunting 
and  housekeeping.  With  it  we  could  have  foraged 
to  better  advantage,  and  saved,  as  well,  a  livery  bill 
which  also  went  to  swell  the  till  of  the  village  "  trust." 

Having  discovered  *'  Rosemary  "  in  the  course  of  a 
walking  tour,  we  did  not  realise  that  the  railway  sta- 
tion was  four  miles  away,  and  while  three  shillings 
for  the  ''  brougham  ''  and  two  shillings  for  a  ''  trap  " 
there  and  back  could  not  be  called  dear  in  the  course 
of  the  year  it  helped  to  do  away  with  the  feeling 
that  our  cottage  in  the  country  was  costing  us  "  noth- 
ing to  speak  of.'* 

All  our  coal  had  to  be  hauled  four  miles,  and  no 
matter  whether  it  was  ''  kitchen/^  ''  best  kitchen  "  or 
''  drawing-room.,'^  the  quality  threw  out  almost  the 
same  trivial  amount  of  heat,  and  the  bill  was  nearly 
double  what  it  would  have  been  in  America,  had  we 
been  obliged  to  heat  a  house  with  half  a  dozen  un- 
economic open  fires. 

There  was  no  "  greengrocer's  "  in  this  little  com- 
munity of  about  four  hundred  souls,  so  we  had  to  fall 
back  on  the  favour  of  our  retinue  of  servants  to 
skirmish  about  for  the  daily  supply  of  vegetables  and 
fruit;  the  result  being  that  their  various  relatives,  as 
a  great  favour,  would  be  persuaded  into  selling  us,  at 
city  prices  and  something  more,  cabbages,  turnips  and 
potatoes,  and  an  occasional  cauliflower,  the  beginning 


98        THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

and  end  of  the  usual  list  of  English  vegetables,  though 
sometimes  this  was  supplemented  by  a  tough  lettuce. 
Even  these  sources  of  supply  were  capricious  and 
would  fail  at  inopportune  times. 

English  fruits  at  the  best  are  negligible  as  to  qual- 
ity and  quantity,  and  expensive,  save  the  strawberry, 
though  there  always  seemed  to  be  a  bountiful  supply 
of  the  plebian,  furry  gooseberry,  judging  by  the  fre- 
quency with  which  our  cook  served  us  that  abomina- 
ble dessert — stewed  gooseberries  and  custard.  Kent 
is  considered  the  home  of  the  best  English  strawberry, 
but  they  were  never  *'  at  home  "  for  us;  when  we  did 
capture  a  box,  it  was  at  Covent  Garden  Market 
prices;  as  for  apples,  they  were  weighed  out  to  us 
by  the  ounce  as  grudgingly  as  if  they  were  precious 
stones. 

An  itinerant  butcher  brought  around  daily  the 
"  joints  "  and  chops,  but  anything  more,  such  as  a 
special  steak  or  a  fowl,  had  to  be  ordered  in  advance, 
and  then  was  not  always  forthcoming;  it  was  more 
often  than  not  a  see-saw  between  leg  of  mutton  and 
mutton  chops. 

There  was  but  one  variety  of  bread — the  "  cottage- 
loaf  " — heavy  and  stodgy,  the  product  of  a  bake- 
oven  that  had  come  down  from  the  time  of  the 
Georges,  an  adjunct  of  the  baker's  own  cottage. 

As  an  example  of  the  futility  of  trying  to  modify 
tradition,  we  pleaded  with  the  baker  to  make  us 
something  that  at  least  looked  like  a  roll.  He 
promised,  to  do  him  justice,  reluctantly,  and  next 
day  we  received  a  litter  of  six  miniature  "  cottage- 


SOME  HOUSEKEEPING  EXPERIENCES        99 

loaves,'*  perfect  replicas  of  the  large  one.  As  well 
try  to  alter  the  mould  of  his  mind  as  change  the  shape 
of  that  loaf,  which  must  have  been  designed  by 
King  Alfred  when  he  turned  cook  I 

Eggs  in  time  became  a  luxury,  and  in  winter  could 
not  be  had  at  any  price.     The  only  recourse  was  to 


A  UlTTe.R 
OF 

COTTAerE. 
L-OAVG-S 


include  them  on  our  shopping  list  and  bring  them 
out  from  London. 

We  finally  rebelled  at  a  diet  made  up  largely  of 
boiled  mutton,  boiled  potatoes  and  soggy  puddings, 
and  in  desperation  had  all  of  our  supplies  sent  from 
London,  three  hours  away  by  rail ;  again  a  profit  on 
the  village  "  monopoly "  for  bringing  them  from 
the  station.  These  included  a  stock  of  American 
canned  goods  at  prices  double  what  they  cost  at  home. 

In  truth,  our  living  in  our  English  country  cottage 
proved  even  more  expensive  than  In  our  London  city 
apartment. 

The  charm  of  the   English  countryside  Is  very 


loo      THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

real,  but  its  resources  are  apt  to  be  meagre  and 
unsatisfactory.  It  is  well  for  the  prospective  house- 
holder to  inquire  into  the  practical  housekeeping 
possibilities  of  the  neighbourhood  wherein  is  situated 
the  picturesque  cottage  or  Tudor  mansion  before 
closing  the  bargain.  To  be  forty  miles  from  a  fresh 
egg  is  rather  a  damper  on  the  enthusiasm  inspired 
by  the  proximity  of  the  ivy-clad  ruin  whose  history 
is  written  in  Domesday  Book. 

We  might  have  thought  that  some  of  our  troubles 
resulted  from  an  ignorance  of  the  local  situation, 
except  for  the  fact  that  English  housekeepers  in  all 
rural  communities  may  be  heard  bewailing  the  same 
conditions. 

There  is  a  live  movement  now  on  foot  in  England 
towards  imitating  the  intensive  gardening  of  the 
French.  If  it  is  successful  it  will  do  much  towards 
lightening  one  phase  of  the  burden  of  housekeeping. 

In  setting  up  an  establishment  in  a  small  English 
community  the  stranger  comes  in  contact  with  tradi- 
tions and  customs  that  seem  puerile  and  even  amus- 
ing to  an  outsider,  but  are  often  none  the  less  ex- 
asperating; all  the  same  it  is  well  to  respect  them. 
Nothing  is  so  out  of  place  as  originality  under  these 
circumstances,  though  the  "  outlander,''  especially  the 
American,  who  runs  counter  to  local  prejudices,  will 
be  judged  leniently,  where  one  of  their  own  country- 
men would  not  be.  The  cult  of  the  American  is  a 
popular  one  everywhere  across  the  water  these  days. 

Even  as  casual  tenants  we  found  that  we  could 
not  escape  certain  ready-made  duties.     There  was  a 


■'  •    •  • 
•  •  • « •  • 


SOME  HOUSEKEEPING  EXPERIENCES      loi 

waiting  list  of  recipients  for  our  bounty;  the  lady 
of  the  house  was  expected  to  do  her  share  of  "  dis- 
trict visiting  "  and  distributing  tracts,  and  might  be 
called  upon  to  pour  tea  at  Sunday-school  "  treats." 
There  is  more  or  less  of  a  code  of  etiquette  gov- 
erning the  initiation  of  a  newcomer  Into  local  society, 
which,   if  freely  translated,   might  read  this  wise: 


If  the  house  is  rented  furnished,  It  implies  that  its 
occupants  are  birds  of  passage,  and  that  therefore 
their  stay  will  not  be  long  enough  to  justify  letting 
down  the  social  barriers,  though  If  one  attends  the 
parish  church  the  vicar  will  call,  and  probably  the 
vicar's  wife — in  which  case  there  will  be  an  Invitation 
to  tea  at  the  vicarage.  On  the  other  hand,  to  take 
a  house  and  furnish  It  carries  with  It  a  certain  sug- 
gestion of  stability  and  permanence  that  makes  the 
newcomer  worth  while,  in  which  case  the  squire's 


I02      THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

family  will  likely  call,  followed  by  other  local  "  some- 
bodies," and  there  will  be  invitations  to  afternoon 
teas  and  garden  parties.  This  delicately  graded 
scale  is  naturally  modified  by  local  conditions,  but 
here  again  the  American  scores,  especially  the  Amer- 
ican woman,  if  she  is  a  sportswoman  and  can  talk 
"  horse  and  dog,"  is  not  averse  to  long  walks,  and 
content  with  gossiping  "  teas  "  as  her  principal  diver- 
sion. But  as  a  class  the  American  women  are  not 
sporty.  Riding  to  hounds  does  not  appeal  to  their 
tastes,  nor  does  "  puppy  walking "  along  muddy 
lanes  hold  any  charms  for  one  addicted  to  silken 
hose  and  pumps.  And  so,  in  spite  of  well-meant 
efforts  of  the  community,  the  American  woman  is  apt 
to  feel  isolated,  and  become  bored  by  the,  it  must 
be  acknowledged,  rather  dull  and  spiritless  existence 
of  rural  England. 

Undoubtedly  this  largely  accounts  for  the  fact 
that  the  sociable  and  vivacious  American  woman  is 
more  often  to  be  found  making  a  home  in  the  gayer 
and  less  formal  atmosphere  of  Continental  Europe, 
rather  than  in  that  of  the  alluring  English  country- 
side, in  spite  of  its  traditions  of  the  best  home  life. 

To  confess  the  truth,  we  ^^  funked "  it,  as  our 
English  friends  would  say,  and  as  a  tenant  was 
forthcoming  to  take  the  lease  off  our  hands,  basely 
deserted  "  Rosemary  "  before  the  year  was  out. 

Since  then  we  have  taken  our  enjoyment  of  the 
pleasures  of  English  country  life  from  the  equally 
picturesque  and  far  more  convenient  English  country 
inn. 


SOME  HOUSEKEEPING  EXPERIENCES      103 


S?\  COUNTRY   HOUSE 
in 
ORMAN 


We  were  beguiled  Into  another  trial  of  house- 
keeping In  a  foreign  land  by  one  of  those  "  beauty 
spots  *'  so  common  In  the  lovely  windings  of  the 
Seine  Valley.  It  was  In  a  little  Norman  village  that 
could  boast  of  every  picturesque  attribute  that  a  vil- 
lage should  have  which  dated  from  William  the 
Conqueror,  old  timbered  houses  that  leaned  crazlly 
over  the  one  straggling  street,  an  ancient  Gothic 
church,  the  whole  overtopped  by  the  ruins  of  a  feudal 
castle.  The  stage  setting  was  perfect,  while  for  the 
housekeeper  It  had  the  practical  advantage  of  being 
the  appendage  of  a  large,  flourishing  market  town, 
with  good  shops  only  a  mile  away,  the  two  being 
known  as  La  Grande  Ville  and  La  Petite  Fille, 

For  two  years  or  more  this  particular  corner  of 
Normandy  had  been  familiar  ground.  We  had 
come  and  gone,  making  the  rambling  old  riverside 
hotel  our  headquarters  for  months  at  a  time.  Thus 
it  was  that  when  we  decided  to  look  for  a  pied  de 
terre  of  our  own,  It  was  to  our  old  friend.  Its  patron^ 
that  we  went  for  advice,  and.  In  the  course  of  much 
local  gossip,  finally  weeded  out  the  information  that 
there  were  two  houses  that  might  be  rented. 

The  first  in  local  importance  was  a  modern  French 
chalet — the  kind  known  as  a  ''  Villa  coquette,*^  a 
hideous  type  of  country  house  adored  by  the  average 


I04      THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

Frenchman  who  is  disfiguring  the  loveliness  of 
his  country  with  these  fantastic  specimens  of  domes- 
tic architecture;  an  aberration  from  the  national 
artistic  taste  that  cannot  be  explained  except  by  the 
strong  streak  of  artificiality  in  the  French  character. 

This  one  was  of  the  reddest  of  brick,  with  zig-zag 
trimmings  of  yellow  stone,  carefully  separated  by 
chocolate  coloured  lines.  The  slate  roof,  all  pin- 
nacles and  peaks,  was  crowned  with  a  fence-like 
arrangement  of  spiked  iron  ornaments  that  made  one 
shiver  to  look  at.  There  were  pink  and  green 
porcelain  plaques  let  in  about  the  windows,  while  a 
realistic  terra  cotta  cat,  with  arched  back  and  a 
"  cheshire-grin,"  decorated  the  ridge  pole. 

The  rectangular  garden  was  garnished  with  a  sum- 
mer house  and  a  couple  of  benches  of  imitation  rustic 
work.  In  spite  of  ten  rooms  and  a  glass-enclosed 
verandah,  where  one  could  dine  and  overlook  one 
of  the  finest  views  in  Normandy,  the  colour  scheme 
of  house  and  cat  seemed  dear  to  live  with  at  a  rental 
of  three  hundred  dollars  per  annum. 

A  real  bargain  was  a  maison  bourgeoise,  a  good 
example  of  the  ample  solid  mansion  of  the  well-to-do 
provincial  French  family,  big  enough  to  have  ab- 
sorbed several  of  the  average  modern  city  flats. 
The  ground  floor  was  taken  up  with  the  practical 
working  part  of  the  establishment.  On  entering  the 
massive  front  door,  flush  with  the  street,  the  first 
thing  that  met  the  eye,  and  the  most  prominent,  in 
good  French  style,  was  the  spacious  kitchen  with  its 
rows  of  shining  coppers,  to  which  was  subordinated 


SOME  HOUSEKEEPING  EXPERIENCES      105 

the  dining-room.  Then  came  the  usual  number  of 
small  rooms  and  passages  that  clutter  up  the  large 
French  house  without  seeming  to  be  put  to  any  spe- 
cial use,  but  which,  taken  together,  give  really  a 
vast  area  to  be  put  to  domestic  uses. 

The  house  was  furnished  in  the  formal  and  meagre 
French  taste,  in  a  way  that  would  be  totally  inade- 
quate to  the  needs  of  the  American  or  English  house- 
keeper— principally  with  ornate  mantel  ornaments 
and  gilt  tables  and  long  mirrors,  but  with  never  an 
easy  chair  in  the  whole  house. 

While  there  were  electric  lights  (scarcely  any 
town  in  France  is  too  unimportant  to  be  without 
them) ,  and  the  parquet  of  the  salon  had  come  from  a 
real  historic  chateau,  the  sanitary  arrangements  were 
practically  nil;  and  while  to  each  bedroom  was  at- 
tached an  elegant  and  commodious  cabinet  de  toil" 
ette,  the  stationary  washstand  (why  this  deception 
no  one  could  fathom)  was  pure  make-believe  and  had 
to  be  filled  with  water  brought  in  a  cruche  from  the 
pump  in  the  garden. 

We  could  have  gotten  all  this,  with  a  garden  and 
an  espalier  thrown  in,  for  less  than  the  price  of  the 
gaudy  '' villa  coquette**  about  two  hundred  and  fifty 
dollars  per  annum  with  taxes,  the  tenant,  not  the 
landlord,  paying  the  taxes.  But  a  family  of  two 
could  do  with  smaller  quarters.  Besides,  this  was  a 
type  of  house  that  could  have  been  duplicated  in  any 
French  neighbourhood,  and  we  were  looking  for 
"  local  colour,"  otherwise  why  go  house-hunting  in 
the  most  picturesque  of  old  French  provinces? 


io6      THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

The  right  combination  was  finally  found  just 
where  the  village  street  trailed  off  into  a  grassy  path 
by  the  river.  It  was  a  cross  between  a  small  country 
house  and  an  old  sixteenth-century  Norman  farm- 
house, of  weather-beaten  grey  stone,  with  a  mellow 
red  tile  roof  of  many  ups  and  downs,  with  black 
timbers  showing  In  the  high  gables  and  under  the 
overhanging  eaves.  It  stood  among  lush,  green 
meadows,  in  an  orchard  of  apple  trees — the  small 
cider  apple  tree  of  Normandy.  There  were  some 
flower  beds  and  a  grape  vine  hung  over  the  door — 
the  whole  enclosed  by  a  high,  stone  wall,  capped  with 
crumbling  tiles. 

The  owner  was  an  an)ocat  in  La  Grande  Ville  who 
made  this  his  summer  home  when  he  went  en  vil- 
legtature  during  the  fishing  season.  We  had  more 
than  once  stopped  In  times  past  to  peer  admiringly 
through  the  tall  iron  gate,  and  had  always  envied 
Monsieur  Vavocat  as  he  sat  placidly  fishing,  his 
portly  person  perched  on  a  chair  in  one  end  of  a 
clumsy  boat,  with  madame,  his  wife,  at  the  other 
end,  sewing  industriously.  This  year,  for  some 
reason,  monsieur  had  decided  to  forego  his  fishing — 
a  sport  dear  to  the  Frenchman — and  it  was  this 
which  made  our  opportunity. 

We  interviewed  monsieur  at  his  etude  In  his  town 
house,  and  offered  to  rent  the  place  if  the  terms  were 
agreeable;  they  were,  and  the  matter  was  quickly 
arranged.  A  lease  was  signed  for  a  year,  with  an 
option  of  renewing  it  for  three.  The  rent,  plus  the 
taxes,  came  to  something  over  one  hundred  dollars 


SOME  HOUSEKEEPING  EXPERIENCES      107 

a  year,  payable  quarterly.  The  house  was  even 
partly  furnished,  though  not  In  a  manner  of  sufficient 
importance  to  call  for  a  formal  inventory,  which  in 
France,  as  in  England,  is  taken  with  a  painful  atten- 
tion to  minutae  in  leasing  a  furnished  house. 

In  the  house  proper  were  five  rooms — a  fair-sized 
salon,  an  enormous  kitchen  with  a  spacious  hooded 
chimney,  and  a  small  dining-room,  an  arrangement 
which  gives  a  good  illustration  of  the  relative  im- 
portance of  rooms  in  the  French  domestic  scheme. 
Above  were  two  bedrooms,  each  with  its  tiny  cabinet 
de  toilette,  the  usual  adjunct  of  the  sleeping-room  in 
France,  no  matter  how  restricted  may  be  the  quar- 
ters in  which  are  hidden  away  the  microscopic  bath- 
ing arrangements. 

An  outside  flight  of  stone  stairs  led  up  to  three 
large  rooms,  and  that  looked  as  if  they  had  been 
slapped  on  as  an  afterthought.  These  were  promptly 
fitted  up  as  a  studio  and  workroom,  and  proved  an 
ideal  arrangement  In  avoiding  conflict  between  the 
artistic  and  literary  and  the  domestic  factions  of  the 
household.  Monsieur  had  not  Installed  electric 
lights,  so  we  burned  candles  in  tall,  brass  candlesticks 
and  an  American  lamp,  while  water  came  from  the 
pump  beside  the  kitchen  door. 

Great  beams  crossed  the  low  ceilings,  and  a  high 
mantelpiece — a  good  example  of  sixteenth-century 
Norman  carved  woodwork — nearly  filled  up  one  side 
of  the  little  salon,  and  in  the  fireplace  of  which  stood  a 
pair  of  "  basket  "  andirons,  wrought  In  a  fashion  that 
would  have  tempted  a  collector  to  carry  them  away. 


io8      THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 


The  furniture  was  sparse,  but  enough  to  build  on. 
We  got  some  furnishings  from  our  Paris  studio, 
picked  up  some  things  at  local  auction  sales;  un- 
earthed an  ancient  armoire  and  some  good  ''  lustre  " 
ware,  and  odds  and  ends  of  old  china  In  the  village 
itself;  while  for  a  few  francs  the  kitchen  was  stocked 
with  a  generous  supply  of  the  earthen  casseroles  and 
marmites  that  play  such  an  Important  role  in  the 

French  kitchen.  Thus  the 
problem  of  furnishing  was 
solved  by  degrees,  and  In 
the  process  we  got  not  a 
little  fun,  as  well  as  some 
mild  excitement,  in  bar- 
gaining. 

Our  establishment  ran 
smoothly  with  a  bonne  a 
tout  faire — a  mald-of-all- 
work — who,  for  the  not  ex- 
travagant sum  of  thirty 
francs  (six  dollars)  and 
keep,  did  all  the  work,  from 
polishing  the  waxed  floors 
to  cooking  simple,  but  ex- 
cellent, meals.  The  French 
bonne  rather  prefers  to  be 
in  undisputed  possession  of  the  domestic  field,  and 
while  she  does  her  work  by  rule  of  thumb  she  can 
get  through  with  a  tremendous  lot  in  the  course  of  the 
day. 

No  matter  what  Yvonne's  work  might  be,  her 


SOME  HOUSEKEEPING  EXPERIENCES      109 

black  dress  and  blue  cotton  apron  were  always  neat, 
and  her  blonde  hair  tidy  under  the  close-fitting  white 
cap  of  the  Norman  peasant  woman.  At  five  in  the 
morning  Yvonne  was  up  and  shuffling  about  the  house 
in  her  black,  cloth  slippers,  slipping  them  into  wooden 
sabots  when  she  went  out  of  doors,  and  as  conscien- 
tiously dropping  them  off  again  at  the  door  before 


stepping  on  her  spotless  floors,  as  does  the  Moham- 
medan shed  his  shoes  before  the  sacred  mosque. 

On  pleasant  days  we  ate  out  of  doors  in  delightful 
French  country  fashion,  and  Yvonne  served  three 
daily  meals  under  the  apple  trees  with  never  a  grum- 
ble about  the  extra  work  that  this  entailed.  She  did 
the  marketing,  ran  errands,  gave  the  orders  and  was 
a  competent  "  buffer  *'  between  us  and  the  daily  fric- 
tion in  dealings  with  the  butcher,  the  baker  and  others 
pf  their  ilk.     The  few  sous  that  may  have  been 


no      THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

diverted  into  her  own  pocket  by  the  process  were 
only  her  just  dues — which,  to  tell  the  truth,  was  ex- 
actly the  way  she  looked  at  it. 

Yvonne  was  not  perfection.  She  was  unduly 
voluble,  not  at  all  truthful,  and  her  manners,  to  more 
conventional  housekeepers,  might  have  seemed  free 
and  easy;  but  the  French  servant  is  pliable  to  an 
extent  unintelligible  to  the  starched  English  maid,  and 
is  not  always  clogging  the  domestic  machinery  by 
stopping  to  define  the  exact  boundaries  of  her  do- 
main. When  there  was  nothing  else  to  do  Yvonne 
would  polish  off  the  brass  and  rub  down  the  body- 
work of  the  automobile  which  was  housed  in  the 
ancient  stable. 

Nothing  so  accentuates  the  difference  between 
country  life  in  France  and  that  of  neighbouring  Eng- 
land as  the  superiority  of  the  French  local  resources. 
Each  petit  pays,  or  community,  is  self-supporting  and 
self-contained.  In  the  chief  town  a  weekly  market 
focusses  the  produce  of  the  surrounding  villages  and 
farms,  both  for  the  convenience  of  the  local  buyer 
and  for  distribution  to  points  further  away. 

Every  Monday  afternoon  Yvonne,  armed  with 
her  black,  straw-covered  basket,  went  to  the  market 
in  the  place  of  La  Grande  Ville.  She  would  bar- 
gain with  keenness  and  relish  for  the  week's  supplies 
up  and  down  the  long  line  of  market  women  sitting 
sphinx-like  before  their  heaped  up  baskets.  Here, 
in  covered  booth  and  under  widespread  umbrellas, 
nearly  everything  could  be  found,  from  live  stock  to 
drygoods,  and  from  flowers  to  scrap-iron.     This  was 


SOME  HOUSEKEEPING  EXPERIENCES       iii 

our  bonnets  only  day  off,  nor  would  she  have  wanted 
any  better  holiday  than  this  weekly  tilt  in  wits  and 
the  opportunity  it  gave  for  gossip. 

Only  recently  a  law  has  been  passed  in  France 
providing  for  a  repos  hehdomadaire,  which  entitles 
every  employee  to  a  day  of  rest,  but  so  far  the 
French  servant  has  rarely  availed  herself  of  it. 
''  Mon  Dieu,  que  faired  she  exclaims,  and  simply 
shrugs  her  shoulders  and  goes  about  her  work  as 
usual. 

Beside  the  weekly  market  there  came  to  our  door 
each  morning  the  marchands  de  quatre  saisons  (so 
called  from  the  fact  that  they  handle  the  products  of 
the  four  seasons),  peasant  women  with  push-carts 
of  vegetables  and  fruits  from  the  outlying  farms. 
They  are  well-named;  no  matter  what  might  be  the 
time  of  the  year  their  supply  of  green  stuff  was  abun- 
dant and  varied,  thanks  to  the  French  system  of  in- 
tensive gardening,  which  is  being  recognised  as  the 
best  exponent  of  that  art  the  world  over.  Winter 
had  its  salads  no  less  than  summer,  nor  was  one 
dependent  upon  the  long  garden  list  of  escaroles  and 
romaines  at  any  time,  for  the  peasant  woman  of 
Normandy  can  go  out  into  the  fields  and  grub  up, 
what,  to  the  uninitated,  would  be  regarded  only  as 
weeds,  and  bring  them  into  the  market  in  the  form 
of  most  appetising  salads.  Notable  among  such 
was  the  tender,  white  shoots  of  the  dandelion  from 
under  the  young  wheat,  the  de  luxe  variety  of  the 
ordinary  dandelion  salad.  Asparagus  was  a  spe- 
cialty of  the  neighbourhood,  and  haricots  verts,  which 


112      THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

might  be  labelled  as  the  vegetable  of  the  French, 
were  grown  by  the  square  acre  in  the  neighbourhood. 
One  particularly  sheltered  garden  supplied  our  table 
with  strawberries,  including  the  higly  prized  white 
variety  of  Normandy,  from  April  until  December. 
Another  fruit  that  seemed  to  come  to  stay  was  the 
cherry,  which  can  take  its  place  along  with  the 
haricots  verts  in  the  affections  of  the  French  house- 
keeper. But  on  the  whole  the  French  fruits  do  not 
rank  with  their  vegetables. 

In  spite  of  the  fact  that  a  tax  had  to  be  paid  on 
all  produce  brought  within  the  village  limits — the 
octroi  tax,  that  like  a  belt  is  tightly  drawn  about 
every  French  town — prices  were  reasonable,  and 
there  was  no  attempt  at  rivalling  those  of  the  city 
markets. 

Normandy  is  the  dairy  of  France,  and  is  the  home 
of  the  best  milk,  butter,  and  the  most  varied  number 
of  cheeses  produced  on  French  soil,  so  we  fared  very 
well  in  this  particular,  though  the  milk  came  in  the 
unhygienic  tin  milk-can  of  the  dark  ages  of  house- 
keeping (milk  in  bottles  not  having  penetrated  be- 
yond the  confines  of  some  of  the  large  cities),  but  its 
quality,  at  eight  cents  the  litre,  as  well  as  that  of  the 
unsalted  butter,  could  not  be  excelled. 

In  the  warm  months  our  dairy  woman,  for  it  is 
usually  the  woman  who  is  the  vendor  about  the 
French  countryside,  brought  also  the  cceur  de  la  creme, 
temptingly  laid  out  on  a  bed  of  grape  leaves — 
a  small,  home-made  cream  cheese,  which  takes  its 
name  from  its  heart-shaped  basket  moulds.     Then 


SOME  HOUSEKEEPING  EXPERIENCES       113 

there  were  the  numerous  family  of  Norman  cheeses 
to  draw  upon — the  world-renowned  Camembert, 
Gournay,  the  delicate,  sweet  Gervais,  while  the  little 
browns  jugs  of  the  rich  Creme  dUsigny  were  also 
one  of  the  products  of  our  pays,  the  Pont  VEveque, 


the  Brie  and  the  Port  Salut  coming  from  a  little 
farther  away. 

Poultry  and  eggs  came  from  an  island  just  oppo- 
site us,  and  the  cheerful  cackle  that  floated  across 
the  water  in  no  way  suggested  the  "  cold  storage  '* 
fowls  only  too  prevalent  these  days  In  our  own  city 
markets.  It  was  here  that  Yvonne  went  when  in 
search  of  a  particularly  fine  poulet  de  grain — one 
that  had  been  properly  fattened  on  corn,  or  a  basket 
of  fresh-laid  eggs,  rowing  there  and  back  in  Mon- 
sieur Vavocafs  old  fishing  punt. 


114      THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

Fowls,  Yvonne  would  always  roast  on  the  broche 
before  the  open  fire,  which  was  nearly  lost  in  one 
end  of  the  huge  chimney,  in  preference  to  the  in- 
competent stove,  as  she  did  also  the  gigot  (always 
with  a  tange  of  garlic) ,  the  leg  of  mutton  that  takes 
the  place  on  the  French  menu  of  that  occupied  by 
roast  beef  on  the  English  dinner  table. 

Nor  were  we  entirely  dependent  upon  La  Grande 
Ville  for  household  odds  and  ends.  A  well-stocked 
shop  in  the  village  itself  sold  a  little  of  every- 
thing from  gasolene  for  the  automobile  to  fishing 
poles  and  bait.  There  was  a  woman  cordonnier  who 
could  re-sole  shoes  as  well  as  her  masculine  com- 
petitors. A  well-appointed  butcher's  shop,  flying  its 
insignia — d,  red  cloth  at  the  doorway — furnished 
good  beef,  mutton,  lamb  and  veal  at  as  reasonable 
rates  as  could  be  expected  in  a  land  where  one  must 
expect  to  pay  well  for  good  meat.  There  was  com- 
petition in  the  boulangerie  business,  and  we  had  sev- 
eral varieties  of  rolls,  as  well  as  brioches ^  for  the  Sun- 
day breakfast,  and  as  a  treat  even  pastry  on  fete  days. 

We  employed  a  b Ian chis sense,  not  a  laveuse.  The 
distinction  means  much  to  one's  clothes.  The 
laveuse  is  the  ordinary  washerwoman  who  takes  one's 
linen  to  the  river  bank,  or  any  convenient  bit  of 
water,  lays  the  clothes  on  a  board,  and  pounds  out 
the  dirt  with  a  wooden  paddle.  By  this  process  in 
time  one's  wearing  apparel  is  riddled  with  small 
holes,  as  if  bird-shot  had  gone  through  it.  Whereas 
the  blanchtsseuse  does  her  work  in  tubs  on  her  own 
premises,  and  also  frequently  irons,  the  two  accom- 


SOME  HOUSEKEEPING  EXPERIENCES      115 

plishments,  however,  not  necessarily  going  together. 
The  work  is  usually  well  done,  and  one^s  shirtwaists 
cost  one-half,  and  often  a  third  of  what  they  would 
in  America,  with  everything  else  in  proportion, 
though  the  pernicious  use  of  lessive,  or  lye,  has 
naturally  a  bad  effect  upon  one's  linen  in  time. 

All  good  housekeepers  in  Normandy  make  their 
own  cider.  From  October  through  November  the 
village  cider-press  travels  from  house  to  house,  and 
the  air  is  heavy  with  the  acrid  scent  of  crushed 
apples.  We  followed  the  example  of  our  neighbours 
and  engaged  a  burly,  blue-bloused  Norman  man-of- 
all-work  for  three  francs  for  the  day  to  set  up  the 
press  in  our  garden  and  turn  our  crop  of  apples  into 
the  golden  beverage  of  Normandy.  The  procedure 
was  simple  enough.  The  right  mixture  of  tart  and 
sweet  apples  were  first  cut  up  In  a  chopping  machine 
and  then  packed  tightly  into  the  press.  Warm  water 
was  poured  in  and  allowed  to  drip  through,  after 
which  the  apples  were  pressed  dry.  The  liquid  was 
put  into  barrels  and  stowed  away  in  the  dark  cellar, 
for  no  French  house  is  without  its  c(m;e — and  eight 
days  later  was  supposed  to  be  ready  to  use;  but 
Norman  cider  must  be  mellow  to  be  enjoyed;  even 
at  Its  best  it  is  a  bit  sour  and  thin  even  to  the  palate 
accustomed  only  to  ice-water. 

Why  did  we  ever  leave  such  a  paradise  might 
well  be  asked?  Procrastination  was  our  undoing. 
We  could  have  bought  our  house  and  the  four  acres 
of  land  attached  for  something  less  than  a  couple 
of  thousand  dollars,  and  did  seriously  think  of  be- 


ii6      THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

coming  permanent  householders  In  La  Petite  Fille, 
but  while  dallying  with  the  idea,  little  dreaming  of 
any  need  for  haste,  we  went  off  for  a  six  weeks' 
jaunt  through  Holland  and  Belgium  and  came  back 
to  find  that  a  small  "  boom  "  had  burst  upon  the 
village.  Monsieur  ravocat  had  been  offered  what 
seemed  to  him  a  fabulous  amount  for  the  property 
and  had  closed  the  bargain.  Ultimately  the  vandal 
purchaser  tore  down  the  house  and  put  up  what  was 
even  worse  than  the  ''  villa  coquette  " — an  imitation 
old  Norman  house. 

In  disgust,  when  our  lease  was  up,  we  shook  the 
dust  of  La  Petite  Fille  off  of  our  feet,  and  so  it  was 
that  when  the  housekeeping  germ  began  its  deadly 
work  again,  it  found  us  by  the  shores  of  the  blue 
Mediterranean. 


^^VILLA 
E  DITERRANEAN 

We  sat  around  our  studio  fire  making  plans  for 
the  winter.  The  cold  fogs  of  autumn  were  wrapping 
Paris  in  their  clammy  folds.  A  Paris  fog  has  not 
the  consistency  of  that  of  London,  but  it  has  a  chill 
of  its  own,  and  Paris  has  by  far  less  adequate  pro- 
vision for  keeping  warm  than  any  city  in  Europe. 

*'  We  will  winter  on  the  Riviera,  in  a  villa,*'  was 
the  decision,  "  and  be  fashionable." 

The  most  chic,  exclusive  winter  amusement  of  all 


c 
B 

u 
O 


PQ 


SOME  HOUSEKEEPING  EXPERIENCES      117 

Europe  is  the  wintering  in  a  Riviera  villa,  on  the 
shores  of  the  blue  Mediterranean,  which  by  the 
poetic  Frenchman  is  described  as  "  a  beautiful  woman 
in  a  blue  gown."  Ah,  but  gowns  cost  money,  even 
to  look  at  sometimes!  Would  not  even  a  modest 
villa  loom  to  too  expensive  proportions  on  this  en- 
chanted shore,  the  modern  garden  of  the  Hesperides, 
where  the  golden  apples  are  indeed  golden. 

How  to  find  out!  We  took  the  obvious  course 
and  got  the  addresses  of  various  house  agents,  be- 
ginning at  Marseilles  and  running  along  the  coast  to 
Cannes,  Nice  and  Menton.  The  experience  opened 
up  vistas  of  foreign  business  methods  which  were 
anything  but  practical,  for  some  never  answered  our 
queries  at  all,  while  others  had  not  yet  returned  from 
the  holidays  in  the  mountains — and  so  made  the  fact 
known  to  us  by  a  brief  message  written  on  a  picture 
post-card  from  some  retreat  in  the  mountains  where 
they  were  spending  their  time  trying  to  catch  trout. 

Our  modest  demand  for  something  habitable 
which  could  shelter  two  people  and  an  automobile 
was  met  by  others  who  offered  us  palatial  chateaux 
with  everything  to  match,  including  the  price.  One 
quoted  a  rental  of  fifty  thousand  francs  for  three 
months,  for  which  we  were  to  have  a  spacious  de- 
mure surrounded  by  ten  acres  of  gardens  and  com- 
posed of  twelve  bed  and  dressing-rooms,  boudoirs, 
billiard  room,  a  "  winter  garden,"  endless  halls  and 
salons  and  servants'  quarters,  and  as  many  as  two  (  ?) 
bathrooms,  with  gas  and  electricity,  running  water, 
an  entrance  lodge,   two  garages  and  a  boathouse. 


ii8      THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

Certainly  the  price  was  not  high  for  what  was  offered. 
It  was  the  automobile  that  did  it,  for  when  we  stipu- 
lated for  a  garage  it  was  hard  to  convince  them  that 
four  additional  rooms  were  enough. 

"  It  is  easy  to  see  what  class  of  Americans  they 
take  us  for,  or  do  they  think  that  we  want  to  run  a 
hotel,"  said  the  Man  in  disgust.  "  We'll  go  house- 
hunting by  automobile  and  investigate  any,  and  every, 
place  that  we  pass  on  the  road  that  has  a  sign  a  louer 
hanging  in  front  of  it,"  and  so  we  decided  forthwith. 

Two  days  down  by  road  from  Paris,  and  we  turned 
eastward  at  Marseilles  and  plunged  gaily  into  the 
real  Riviera  over  the  famous  Route  d'ltalie  which 
links  up  Paris  with  the  Italian  frontier. 

From  Marseilles  on  to  Menton  at  the  edge  of  Italy 
is  the  villa  region  of  Europe.  They  are  not  con- 
verted villas — the  made-over  palaces,  desecrated  con- 
vents and  mouldy  ruins  that  the  searcher  after  the 
old  usually  associated  with  the  word  "  villa  "  in 
Italy.  These  villas  of  the  French  Riviera  are  newly 
built,  new  for  Europe  at  least,  for  it  is  only  within 
the  last  quarter  of  a  century  that  this  exploitation 
has  begun,  and  within  the  last  ten  that  it  has  become 
internationally  popular.  To-day  the  boom  is  fairly 
on.  One  pleasing  result  is  that  what  is  lost  in  an- 
tiquity is  made  up  to  the  housekeeper  in  a  comfort 
such  as  is  rarely  successfully  grafted  on  to  the  monu- 
mental palaces  of  other  days. 

Villas  were  dotted  along  the  grey  flanks  of  the 
mountains  that  rise  here  from  the  sea;  they  are 
perched  on  rocky  crags,  smothered  in  orange  groves 


SOME  HOUSEKEEPING  EXPERIENCES       119 

and  surrounded  by  sweet-scented  gardens  of  exotic 
shrubs,  and  built  on  purple  and  ochre  rocks  out  into 
the  water.  White  most  of  them,  or  of  shell  tints 
and  of  what  might  be  styled  Mediterranean  archi- 
tecture— a  blend  of  Moorish  in  open  colonnades,  of 
Spanish  in  the  flat,  projecting  tile  roofs,  of  Italy  in 
the  stucco  walls  and  conventional  balustrades,  with 
here  and  there  just  a  dash  of  French  coquetry  to 
give  them  the  piquancy  demanded  by  the  exigencies 
of  the  gay  life  that  goes  on  within  the  delicately 
tinted  walls. 

The  correct  type  of  Riviera  villa  must  always  have 
a  brilliant  frieze  stencilled  in  colours  just  up  under 
the  roof,  usually  of  a  design  of  gaudy  flowers,  a 
decorative  Italian  idea,  which  is  very  charming,  and 
turquoise  blue  porcelain  ornaments  play  a  prominent 
part  in  the  exterior  decoration. 

They  were  fancifully  named,  all  of  these  villas,  in 
bold  letters  on  the  gate-post,  and  though  the  villa, 
*'  My  Darling,"  seemed  rather  too  personal  as  an 
address,  the  villa,  "  Mary  and  Martha,"  suggested 
that  both  the  material  and  spiritual  welfare  of  the 
household  was  cared  for. 

We  succeeded  in  getting  much  more  information 
in  personal  interviews  with  the  house  agents.  Busi- 
ness by  correspondence  is  not  one  of  the  strong  points 
of  the  foreigner. 

Nice  being  the  hub  and  the  metropolis  of  the 
Riviera,  offered  the  greatest  choice  compared  to  other 
places.  Furnished  villas,  the  only  kind  to  hire,  on 
account  of  the  expense  of  moving  household  goods, 


120      THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

varied  from  five  hundred  dollars  to  ^vc  thousand 
for  a  season.  This  was  according  to  size,  and  that 
desideratum  of  the  Riviera — location. 

Small  villas !  Oh,  that  was  another  story.  There 
were  some  that  rented  from  three  to  six  hundred 
dollars,  but  they  were  scarce  and  had  been  spotted 
and  grabbed  up  by  the  first  of  October. 

Furnished  apartments  might  have  been  had  at 
similar  prices,  or  the  finer  new  ones  that  are  making 
Nice  as  convenient  to  live  in  as  Paris,  at  Paris 
prices,  if  that  was  what  one  was  looking  for.  Not 
so  with  us;  we  had  come  for  a  villa,  and  a  villa  or 
some  detached  substitute,  therefore,  we  would  have. 
These  prices  were  for  the  Riviera  season  of  three 
months,  from  the  last  of  January  to  the  last  of 
April. 

The  rent,  in  most  cases,  included  the  linen,  china 
and  silver,  or  what  passes  for  silver,  but  not  the 
water.  Your  water  bill  depends  upon  yourself  and 
the  use  you  make  of  that  commodity. 

Conditions  were  much  the  same  at  Menton, 
though  the  tendency  was  towards  lower  prices,  and 
small  villas  set  in  groves  of  lemon  trees  were  not 
unknown  at  three  and  six  hundred  dollars  for  the 
season.  But  they  were  all  taken.  "  Yes,*'  we  were 
assured  by  complacent  agents,  "  it  is  becoming  more 
difficult  each  year  to  secure  just  what  is  wanted,  the 
demand  for  villas  is  steadily  increasing."  So  we 
were  finding  out. 

In  the  charming,  rose-bowered  peninsula  of  An- 
tibes,  living  was  not  so  dear,  and  we  had  the  satisfac- 


SOME  HOUSEKEEPING  EXPERIENCES      121 

tlon  of  learning  that  water  went  with  the  rent,  but 
that  It  was  the  "  habitude  "  to  rent  out  such  acces- 
sories as  linen,  silver  and  china  as  "  extras." 

These  distinctions  were  Interesting,  but  we  were 
using  up  a  lot  of  oil  and  gasolene  and  not  coming 
up  with  the  special  brand  of  villa,  suitable  to  artistic 
and  literary  needs  of  modest  financial  capacity. 

At  Cannes  we  were  offered  charming  and  extensive 
places  that  had  been  hallowed  by  having  been  the 
residences  of  Russian  Grand  Dukes,  German  Heredi- 
tary Princes  or  English  Earls,  seemingly  the  principal 
frequenters  of  this  delightful  Mediterranean  town 
that  caters  for  the  noblesse.  All  this  tended  to  ad- 
vance prices,  so  they  were  not  for  us.  It  was  use- 
less even  to  demand  prices;  we  were  getting  beyond 
the  stage  where  this  amused  us. 

"  We  might  as  well  turn  around  and  begin  at  the 
other  end,"  said  the  Man.  So  we  rushed  the  mag- 
nificent roadway  over  the  red  Esterels  into  Saint 
Raphael,  where  there  were  charming  villas  to  be 
had,  "  patronised  by  Americans,"  we  were  told. 
The  new  golf  links  and  palace  villas  under  the  par- 
asol pines  of  Valescure  were  tempting,  but  beyond  our 
limit  as  to  price. 

A  run  through  the  cork  forests  of  the  "  Maures,'' 
and  we  dropped  down  into  Hyeres,  the  first  or  last 
Riviera  resort — ^It  depends  from  which  way  you 
come. 

Just  a  few  miles  away,  down  on  the  coast,  where  a 
fringe  of  wind-tossed  rock  pines  overhang  the  Medi- 
terranean, is  a  little  village  of  a  single  hotel,  a  few 


122      THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

fishermen's  houses,  a  wine-shop — little  else.  Here 
we  found  our  villa. 

The  renting  was  in  the  hands  of  the  proprietor  of 
the  hotel.  The  villa  Beau  Soleil  was  built  on  the 
usual  casual  architectural  lines  peculiar  to  these  Med- 
iterranean countries — rough  stones,  stuccoed  white 
with  a  pinkish-orange  roof  of  tiles.  Solid  green 
shutters  rendered  it  as  impenetrable  as  a  fortress. 
On  its  gable,  which  was  the  front,  was  painted  a 
golden  sun,  and  in  its  centre  the  name.  A  white 
balustraded  terrace,  without  which  no  Riviera  villa 
is  complete,  overhung  the  water  and  was  roofed  with 
interlaced  dry  bamboo  canes  in  the  fashion  of  the 
country. 

The  villa  was  of  bungalow  construction,  so  com- 
mon to  the  country  houses  about  the  Mediterranean, 
called  variously  bastides  and  cahanons.  There  were 
four  living-rooms  and  the  usual  big  kitchen,  designed 
for  people  who  in  winter  use  the  one  end  of  the 
kitchen  as  a  sitting-room.  There  was  one  room 
under  the  golden  sun  in  which  we  housed  our  one 
servant.  The  open  terrace  gave  us  a  charming  out- 
of-doors  living-room  where  we  could  set  up  the  liter- 
ary and  artistic  shop.  Here,  too,  we  dined,  literally 
under  our  own  vine  and  fig-tree  that  tempered  the 
rays  of  the  southern  sun. 

That  the  boathouse  could  be  used  for  a  garage 
was  the  deciding  point  in  the  favour  of  Beau  Soleil. 
Here  the  Man  might  tinker  when  he  felt  inclined. 
We  took  the  villa  for  twelve  months  (no  Riviera 
season  here)  for  the  moderate  rental,  furnished,  of 


SOME  HOUSEKEEPING  EXPERIENCES       123 

eight  hundred  francs  a  year,  say  a  hundred  and  sixty 
dollars.  The  hotel  patron  wrote  out  a  curious  and 
informal  lease  on  an  old-fashioned  ruled  letter  sheet 
of  papier  timbre  with  the  dregs  of  the  ink  bottle 
eked  out  with  water.  It  seemed  a  crazy  document 
but  never  gave  us  any  trouble. 

The  cool,  white-washed  walls  of  the  rooms  were 
in  pleasing  contrast  with  the  red-tiled  floors,  and 
suggested  the  repose  of  a  convent  cell,  which  delusion 
was  helped  out  by  the  spare  amount  of  furnishings, 
but  there  were  some  old  pieces  of  Provencal  furniture, 
some  great  armoires  and  cupboards,  ornamented  with 
huge,  ornate  steel  locks  and  hinges,  and  a  panetier, 
the  hanging  cupboard  for  bread,  and  below  it  the 
trough-like  table  in  which  the  bread  was  supposed  to 
be  made.  These  two  pieces  of  furniture  to-day  serve 
only  the  purposes  of  collectors,  and  drift  chiefly  to 
the  antique  shops  of  Paris,  Avignon  and  Marseilles. 
There  were  several  mirrors  of  indifferent  reflecting 
ability,  but  with  charming  though  tarnished  gold 
frames. 

The  matter  of  household  supplies  was  not  an 
onerous  one.  Hyeres  was  well  supplied  with  shops  by 
reason  of  its  prominence  as  one  of  the  most  popular, 
though  not  one  of  the  gayest,  of  the  Riviera  resorts. 
The  invaluable  Potin  had  a  branch  here,  and  there 
were  even  some  American  and  English  goods  stocked. 
Outside  of  the  big  cities  the  demand  for  these  Amer- 
ican products  is  so  intermittent  that  they  are  apt  to 
be  stale  and  the  style  old-fashioned,  but  certain  of 
them  could  be  made  to  serve  once  and  again. 


124      THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

With  the  automobile  we  did  our  own  delivering, 
otherwise  we  would  have  gone  without.  As  we  were 
in  the  garden  spot  of  Europe  for  fruits  and  veg- 
etables, from  which  supplies  are  drawn  for  northern 
Europe,  contrary  to  what  might  usually  be  expected, 
we  found  them  cheap  and  plentiful  at  all  seasons. 
They  were  picturesquely  brought  around  to  our  door 


loaded  in  basket  panniers  swung  across  lazy,  small 
donkeys,  or  in  carts,  guided  by  women  whose  sun- 
baked faces  were  shielded  by  flapping  straw  hats 
with  conical  crowns  bound  with  black  velvet  bands. 
Our  maid  was  a  Provencal,  who  came  from  the 
neighbourhood  of  Aries,  and  wore  proudly  the  cos- 


SOME  HOUSEKEEPING  EXPERIENCES      125 

tume  of  that  pays.  The  tiny  ribbon  coiffe  and  shawl 
fichu  and  the  uneconomic  black  dress  that  the  labour- 
ing classes  all  over  Europe  cling  to,  clothed  the  girl 
most  agreeably,  and  coming  from  the  most  demo- 
cratic region  of  Europe,  the  '*  Midi  "  of  France,  she 
treated  us  as  equals  without  embarrassment.  She 
was  a  charming,  handsome,  warm-hearted  creature 
who  felt  it  her  duty  to  entertain  us  socially  in  her 
rests  between  labours. 

Celestine  worked  hard  and  faithfully,  though  with- 
out any  system.  She  cooked  in  the  nondescript 
Mediterranean  style,  a  little  more  so  if  anything, 
which  like  its  architecture  is  a  composite  of  all  the 
attributes  of  the  various  warm  countries  bordering 
upon  it. 

How  Celestine  cooked  even  as  well  as  she  did  was 
a  never  ceasing  marvel.  The  kitchen  range  was  a 
high  platform  of  brick  under  a  hooded  chimney. 
The  fire  was  built  on  top  and  there  were  sundry  little 
depressions  into  which  coals  were  dropped  and  over 
which  casseroles  stewed  dreamily  away.  The  pin- 
tard — guinea  hen — was  the  bird  of  the  country,  and 
when  Celestine  roasted  it  on  a  broach  before  the  fire 
of  grapevine  stems,  as  well  as  rows  of  tiny  greves 
(which  were  certainly  sparrows)  strung  on  a  long 
skewer,  heads  flapping  in  a  horrible,  life-like  way 
with  the  motion  of  the  slow-turning  broach,  we  usu- 
ally withdrew  and  let  Celestine  eat  these.  We  bar- 
gained with  one  of  the  fishermen  to  bring  us  fish  for 
the  daily  bouillabaisse,  that  Mediterranean  fish  stew 
to  be  had  at  its  best,  and  in  its  only  true  form,  when 


126      THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

made  of  the  celebrated  rock  fish  of  the  Mediterra- 
nean, and  has  plenty  of  yellow  saffron,  garlic,  herbs 
and  oil  bestrewn  upon  it;  either  this  or  it  is  not 
bouillabaisse  at  all.  Lapin  garenne,  stewed  rabbit, 
with  a  thick  wine  sauce,  is  another  specialty  of  Celes- 
tine's,   and  we  sometimes  longed  for  the   ''  plain  " 


cooking  of  England,  though  indeed  the  girPs  art  was 
a  marvel. 

Lamb  was  our  main  dependence  for  meat,  and 
goat's  milk  was  all  that  we  could  get  in  the  way  of 
lacteal  fluid,  save  a  concoction  sold  by  the  itinerant 
milkman  who  would  mix  sheep's  milk  with  it.  Wine 
was  cheap  and  good,  costing  by  the  barrel  five  sous 
a  litre,  double  that  for  something  better.  Our 
shortage  on  milk  had  to  be  made  up  on  wine. 

After  luncheon  in  the  warm,  drowsy  afternoon, 
Celestine  would  take  her  sewing  out  under  the  olive 


SOME  HOUSEKEEPING  EXPERIENCES      127 

trees,  or  weave  the  flat,  round  baskets  used  by  the 
olive  presser,  which  we  found,  incidentally,  made 
very  good  mats  for  the  terrace.  Always  at  such 
times  her  head  would  be  covered  with  several  hand- 
kerchiefs, for  fear  of  a  coup  de  soldi;  when  it  was 
cool  she  sat  with  her  feet  on  a  tin  chauffrette  full  of 
live  coals.  Celestine  and  her  mode  of  life  was  more 
interesting  to  us  than  ourselves,  and  on  the  whole  we 
enjoyed  her  and  profited  by  her  acquaintance. 

All  water  had  to  be  brought  from  the  village,  and 
as  for  baths,  the  Mediterranean  alone  served  as  our 
tub.  The  baker  at  Hyeres  sent  us  out  each  day  a 
collection  of  the  queer,  lumpy  loaves  known  as  the 
^^ pain  d^Aix^  that  is,  when  he  didn't  forget  it;  at 
other  times  we  cranked  up  the  automobile  and  went 
in  search  of  them  ourselves,  bringing  back  on  the  side 
an  occasional  sack  of  ''  houletsy  or  compressed  coal 
dust,  in  morsels  about  the  size  of  an  egg.  These 
black-diamond  eggs  Celestine  burned  in  the  fire  which 
heated  up  the  brick  oven  on  certain  occasions,  and  so 
far  as  they  went  did  really  give  out  an  efficient  heat, 
though  truly  they  proved  expensive. 

Without  the  automobile,  housekeeping  in  our  Med- 
iterranean villa  would  hardly  have  been  a  practical 
success. 

Celestine  washed  our  clothes  in  the  big  stone  tank 
of  water  at  the  end  of  the  garden.  This  was  divided 
into  two  compartments,  one  for  the  washing  and  one 
for  the  rinsing,  and  she  got  fairly  good  results,  con- 
sidering that  she  used  only  cold  water  and  olive  oil 
soap.     We   had  a   repasseuse  come   in  to  prevent 


128      THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

Celestine  giving  us  the  household  linen  ironed  in 
French  country  fashion  by  being  pulled  out  and 
folded,  rough  dry. 

All  through  the  warm  spring  nights  the  nightin- 
gales trilled  in  the  olive  trees  of  our  garden,  while 
the  light  of  the  moon,  big  as  a  balloon,  made  a  broken 
path  of  beaten  gold  across  the  water.  Idyllic  days 
those  when  we  sat  on  the  terrace,  in  broken  light 
and  shade,  soothed  by  the  chant  of  the  cigale — the 
thermometer  of  southern  France — sky  and  water  a 
symphony  in  blue,  fanned  by  the  warm  breezes  from 
the  African  coast,  and  watching  the  orange  sails  of 
the  fishing  boats  drift  around  the  violet  headlands 
of  Cap  Sicie  and  Porquerolles. 

**  Is  this  what  you  would  call  a  fashionable  win- 
ter?" asked  the  Man,  coming  up  from  the  boat- 
house,  where  he  had  been  tinkering  with  the  automo- 
bile, wearing  the  blue  cotton  overalls  of  a  French 
mechanic,  grease  up  to  his  elbows. 

Celestine  had  just  come  from  the  fountain,  bring- 
ing the  evening  supply  of  water,  and  was  resting  the 
two  big,  green  pottery  cruches  beside  the  monumental 
gateway,  while  she  flirted  amiably  with  the  boy  who 
had  led  up  his  flock  of  brown  and  white  goats  to 
deliver  the  milk,  piping  to  them  as  do  the  shepherds 
still  to  their  flocks  on  the  grey-green  hills  of  Greece. 

"  Well,"  I  said,  looking  back  at  the  Colle  Noir 
that  formed  our  mountain  background,  and  across 
to  where  two  mammoth  hotels  reared  their  half-mile 
of  colonnaded  white  fronts  above  the  pines  of  Mont 
des  Giseaux;  "  there's  the  Costabelle  Hotel  just  yon- 


SOME  HOUSEKEEPING  EXPERIENCES      129 

der  that  popular  superstition  says  you  can't  get  in  at 
for  less  than  twenty-five  francs  a  day  (what  is  nearer 
the  truth  is,  you  probably  could  not  get  away  for 
less  than  fifty  francs  a  day),  whose  guests  are  spend- 
ing their  days  on  the  golf  links  and  their  nights 
at  the  bridge  table,  and  two-thirds  of  them  have 


English  titles.  Again,  over  there  is  San  Salvadour, 
patronised  by  the  French  noblesse  and  the  American 
millionairesses,  where  those  of  the  guests  who  have 
not  come  in  their  own  automobiles  are  renting  them 
from  a  Hyeres  garage  at  two  hundred  dollars  a 
week.  That  cloud  of  dust  you  see  up  the  road  was 
just  left  by  the  motor  car  of  the  grandest  of  Russian 
Grand  Dukes  taking  a  run  over  from  Cannes,  and 


I30      THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

besides/'  warming  to  the  subject,  "  do  we  not  go  to 
the  one  ourselves  and  eat  through  a  ten-course  dinner 
when  Celestine  slips  up  in  her  good  judgment  and 
gives  us  a  combination  of  all  the  exotic  peculiarities 
of  this  region,  such  as  moules,  oursins,  rabbit,  aioli 
and  greves  the  same  day,  and  to  the  other  for  after- 
noon tea  when  we  want  gay  society?  How  much 
more  of  the  fashionable  world  would  you  expect  at 
our  present  cost  of  living  per  capita — one  American 
dollar  a  day?  " 

"  I  don't  suppose  you  include  those  teas  and  din- 
ners up  at  these  mountain  hostelries  in  the  estimate, 
do  you?"  murmured  the  Man  as  he  went  to  the 
washing  arrangement  in  the  garden  to  rinse  the  grease 
and  dirt  from  his  hands  by  a  liberal  dousing  in  real 
olive  oil.  I  did  not  answer,  but  I  knew  that  I  had 
made  my  point,  that  it  was  just  such  contrasts  as 
these  that  make  up  the  charms  of  experimental  house- 
keeping abroad.  Those  dinners  and  teas  were  ex- 
tras, mere  amusements  not  at  all  necessary  to  an 
enjoyable  existence. 

"  Say,  do  you  know?"  said  the  Man,  reappearing 
with  immaculate  hands.  *'  I  think  there  is  money 
to  be  made  exploiting  olive  oil  as  a  dirt  remover." 


^rkve/fep 


AS  THE   ITALIAN   HOTEL   PROPRIETOR  SEES   HER 

ONEROUS  PROFESSION  OF  TOURIST 

SOCIABLE  AMERICANS 

THROUGH  THE  FOREIGN  CUSTOM  HOUSE 

BLOOMSBURY  BOARDING-HOUSE 

LIFE  IN  LODGINGS 

ENGLISH  PRIVATE  HOTEL 

PAYING  GUEST 

AMUSEMENTS   IN   AN   ANCIENT   CHATEAU 

ENGLISH  RAILWAY  STATIONS 

RAILWAY  TRAVEL  IN  THE  BRITISH  ISLES 

PENSIONS  VS.  HOTELS 

EUROPEAN  BOARDING-HOUSE 

FRENCH  PENSION 

BOARDING  IN  A  FRENCH  FAMILY 

IN  A  "  HOTEL-MEUBLE  " 

PARIS  RESTAURANTS 

OMINOUS  SIGN  OF  THE  HORSE'S  HEAD 

WOMAN   TRAVELLER   AND   THE    EUROPEAN    HOTEL 

THE  CASE  OF  THE  FRENCHMAN 

BERLIN  COMPETES  WITH  PARIS 

CONTINENTAL  RAILWAYS 

TRAVELLING   COMPANIONS 


V 

THE  LONE  WOMAN  TRAVELLER 

The  proprietor  of  a  well-known  tourist  hotel  In  one 
of  the  large  Italian  cities,  whose  clientele  is  largely 
composed  of  the  independent  woman  traveller,  un- 
burdened himself  In  an  expansive  moment,  of  his 
impressions  of  this  large  class  of  Americans  abroad. 
He  had  been  fifty  years  in  the  business  and  had 
seen  the  American  woman  come  Into  her  own  In  his 
country,  and  was  in  a  position  to  form  an  opinion 
as  to  the  success  with  which  she  had  managed  this 
particular  end  of  her  European  tour. 

''  Ah,  they  are  wonderful  women,  these  Ameri- 
can women,"  he  said  contemplatively.  "  They  are 
wonderful;  I  watch  them  come  and  go;  they  are 
very  interesting;  so  calm;  so  composed;  they  know 
just  what  they  want;  but  the  most  wonderful  thing 
about  them  is,  the  ease  with  which  they  can  put  any- 
thing from  them  which  they  do  not  like.  They 
do  not  take  It  to  heart,  they  do  not  worry  over  It, 
they  simply  put  it  to  one  side  and  go  their  way." 

It  Is  this  quality,  the  ignoring  of  what  Is  not 
wanted,  the  disagreeable,  and  going  about  their  busi- 
ness, that  makes  for  the  security  and  confidence  which 
are  the  characteristics  which  mark  the  American 
woman  abroad,  married  or  single,  young  or  old. 

133 


134      THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

When  the  lone  woman  traveller  leaves  her  steamer 
and  stands  before  some  doorway  to  Europe  for  the 
first  time,  she  sometimes  finds  herself  in  the  midst 
of  a  confusion  of  ideas  as  well  as  a  confusion  of 
tongues. 

She  has  left  home  with  a  clear-cut  idea  of  what  she 
wants  to  do  and  see,  but  about  twenty  different  peo- 
ple on  shipboard  have  given  her  as  many  different 
kinds  of  advice.  If  she  can  but  realise  it,  every  por- 
ter, cabby  and  hotel  waiter  is  waiting  for  her  com- 
ing, and  if  she  will  but  put  herself  in  the  hands  of 
the  great  army  of  those  who  cater  to  the  wants  and 
needs  of  the  tourist,  she  will  be  passed  along  as 
expeditiously  and  safely  as  a  bale  of  merchandise. 

Her  type  has  become  as  well  recognised,  and  she 
is  catered  for  equally  as  well  as  the  large  party  who 
orders  a  suite  of  rooms  in  advance,  usually  at  ad- 
vanced prices. 

The  profession  of  tourist  means  a  lot  of  hard 
work.  It's  not  raptures  and  roses  all  along  the  way. 
If  the  average  tour  abroad  was  made  compulsory 
what  a  howl  would  go  up  from  many  a  wanderer. 
Most  people  take  more  exercise  in  a  few  months  of 
travel  than  they  do  in  years  at  home.  They  reverse 
their  way  of  living,  crowd  their  stomachs  with  strange 
food,  and  their  bags  grow  steadily  heavier  with  fool- 
ish souvenirs,  and  in  the  multiplying  of  new  brain 
cells,  in  the  tussle  with  several  samples  of  languages, 
that  poor  organ  gets  as  sore  as  a  set  of  unused  mus- 
cles. The  lone  woman  has  all  sorts  of  fears.  She 
is    as    nervous   as   a    cat   trying   to    get    across    a 


THE  LONE  WOMAN  TRAVELLER        135 

street.  Will  she  be  lonely;  who  will  she  have  to 
talk  to  ? 

For  a  fact,  if  she  can  get  out  of  the  sound  of  an 
American  voice  she  will  be  lucky.  The  sights  of 
Europe  are  obscured  by  her  compatriots.  It  is  also 
easy  to  attach  oneself  to  a  party.  The  American 
likes  nothing  better  than  to  travel  in  bunches,  through 
sociability  and,  perhaps,  a  certain  lack  of  confidence. 
Anyway,  they  are  to  be  seen  all  over  the  country  in 
parties,  that,  like  a  snowball  rolling  along,  grows  in 
size  at  every  pension  and  hotel  it  comes  to,  until 
it  finally  becomes  too  unwieldy  to  be  housed  and 
moved  about. 

Here  is  just  where  there  occurs  much  loss  of 
time  and  not  a  little  friction :  It  is  impossible  not  to 
be  so  in  a  crowd  of  a  dozen  or  more  women  with  an 
easy-going  man  or  two  in  the  background.  The 
American  man  rather  regards  the  trip  abroad,  as  he 
does  religion  and  society,  as  the  particular  province 
of  his  womankind,  and  is  usually  quite  willing  that 
she  should  lead  the  attacking  force  against  the  for- 
eigner and  his  language,  which  attitude  still  further 
mystifies  that  perplexed  individual  in  his  efforts  to 
understand  his  American  clientele. 

There  is  a  first  loneliness  and  strangeness  which 
clutches  the  lone  woman  traveller,  a  sort  of  land- 
sickness  which  must  be  gone  through  with  as  is  sea- 
sickness, but  once  the  crisis  is  passed  she  will  be  in 
a  fairer  way  to  enjoy  herself  than  if  she  was  tagged 
to  any  group  of  people,  no  matter  how  agreeable 
they  might  appear. 


136      THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

Even  in  linking  up  the  most  desirable  of  com- 
panions en  voyage,  one  should  be  in  a  position  to 
throw  off  the  line  readily  and  be  able  to  part  con- 
veniently, pleasantly  and  easily. 

Once  the  ship  arrives  on  the  other  side  the  steward 
carries  her  hand-baggage  off  the  steamer  onto  the 
dock,  or  to  the  tender  which  takes  the  passengers 
ashore.  He  has  become  as  an  old  friend,  and  she 
almost  clings  to  him  when  she  gives  the  parting  tip. 
The  native  porter  is  at  the  landing  stage  and 
seizes  her  bags  to  carry  into  the  nearby  custom 
house,  where  eventually  her  trunks  arrive  by  some 
mysterious  means. 

Customs  examinations  are  perfunctory  in  most 
cases,  and  as  a  rule  merely  amount  to  the  trouble 
of  unlocking  a  single  trunk  or  bag.  An  official,  in 
some  cases  with  gloved  hands  (we  are  behind  in  this 
thing  at  home),  ruffles  up  a  corner  of  a  tray  and  asks 
the  conventional  question,  which  is  composed  on 
about  the  same  formula  in  every  country — whether 
you  have  cigarettes,  cigars,  matches,  perfumery  or 
spirituous  liquors,  the  articles  customs  officials  seem 
most  keen  about.  In  an  equally  perfunctory  way 
he  chalks  your  luggage,  and  the  waiting  porter  (he 
will  wait,  if  he  is  not  tipped,  until  the  end  of  the 
world)  gathers  up  everything  and  shows  the  way  to 
the  ticket-office.  The  woman  traveller  follows  to 
where  her  trunks  must  be  registered  (checked),  and 
any  excess  over  the  usual  sixty  pounds  or  thereabouts 
must  be  paid  for,  as  well  as  a  small  fee  for  regis- 
tration. 


THE  LONE  WOMAN  TRAVELLER 


137 


She  takes  the  receipt  and  the  porter  now  takes 
her  and  the  hand-luggage  to  the  train  (or  into  the 
cab  or  taxi  that  Is  to  carry  her  to  a  hotel),  which  is 
waiting  to  meet  the  steamer,  finds  her  a  seat,  puts  the 
bags  in  the  rack  above  her  head — and  then  awaits  his 
reward.  If  he  has  done  all  this — as  he  should  have 
done — a  tip  of  the  value  of  twenty-five  to  fifty  cents 


•^^^ 


should  be  given  him.  The  point  is  to  make  one's 
porter  stay  by  and  do  the  business.  He  will  never 
lose  you  or  your  baggage  as  long  as  the  tip  is  still 
ahead  of  him. 

Usually  the  lone  woman  traveller  comes  by  way 
of  England,  where  she  can  talk  in  a  language  ap- 
proximating her  own.  Her  destination  is  usually  a 
boarding  house  in  Bloomsbury  or  Kensington. 
Around  Bloomsbury,  with  the  British  Museum  as 
a  nucleus,  has  sprung  up,  in  the  last  fifteen  years. 


138      THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

a  rank  and  file  of  boarding  houses  which  are  filled 
from  May  to  September  with  unattached  American 
women,  and  a  few  scattering,  subdued  men. 

The  Bloomsbury  boarding  house  is  like  most 
things  in  older  London — ^just  a  little  dingy;  but  the 
proprietor — who  is  generally  a  woman  of  the  severe 
British  matron  type — usually  knows  her  business  and 
tries  to  her  utmost  to  please  Americans,  even  giving 
them  as  nearly  an  American  breakfast  as  she  can 
concoct. 

The  London  boarding  house  is  supposedly  cheap, 
and  can  actually  be  made  fairly  so  if  one  arranges 
for  room  and  breakfast  only,  and  shops  around  for 
meals  in  connection  with  sight-seeing.  Such  accom- 
modation can  often  be  had  from  a  guinea  to  thirty 
shillings  a  week.  As  the  American  has  usually  noth- 
ing but  praise  for  the  London  boarding  house,  this 
speaks  well  for  its  attempt  to  cater  for  this  special 
class  of  customers. 

The  English  themselves  still  cling  to  the  habit  of 
lodgings.  Life  in  lodgings,  it  must  be  confessed, 
Is  a  singularly  lonely  existence,  but  if  one  wants  to 
get  an  insight  into  one  phase  of  life  in  the  British 
Isles,  such  as  they  will  not  find  elsewhere.  It  can  be 
made  quite  an  amusing  and  Instructive  experience. 
More  especially  is  this  so  when  one  "  goes  Into  lodg- 
ings," as  they  say,  in  some  small  country  town. 

One  is  not  risking  anything  to  go  on  a  hunt  for 
"  lodgings  "  and  trust  to  luck  to  find  what  Is  wanted. 
Any  attractive  typical  small  English  house,  with  a 
little  garden  and  a  neat  appearance  that  puts  out  the 


THE  LONE  WOMAN  TRAVELLER        139 

sign  "  Lodgers  Wanted,"  will,  in  nine  cases  out  of 
ten,  prove  to  be  an  attractive  place  for  a  sojourn. 

Life  in  lodgings  Is  peculiar;  you  make  arrange- 
ments for  your  rooms,  say  a  bedroom  and  a  sitting- 
room,  for  so  much  a  week,  which  includes  having 
your  meals  cooked  and  served  to  you  in  your  own 
sitting-room.  But  you  must  do  the  marketing  your- 
self, unless  you  shirk  this  and  throw  the  responsibility 
upon  the  landlady,  though  as  an  experience  it  is  well 
worth  doing  oneself.  You  can  get  acquainted  with 
the  local  butcher  and  have  a  struggle  to  keep  him 
from  cutting  off  a  third  more  steak  than  you  order 
(it  is  never  less),  and  you  will  soon  get  acquainted 
with  the  limitations  of  the  greengrocer.  Marketing 
in  a  foreign  country  has  educational  advantages,  and 
when  you  are  looking  up  your  food  each  day,  just 
for  fun,  it  has  nothing  In  common  with  the  monotony 
of  ordinary  housekeeping. 

There  is  something  very  Dickensesque  about  "  lodg- 
ings," but  they  are  not  half  bad,  and  give  the  ad- 
vantages of  a  home  with  the  omissions  of  a  few  of 
the  shortcomings.  If  there  are  other  lodgers  in 
the  same  house  one  is  not  brought  in  contact  with 
them  in  any  way,  but  it  is  a  constant  source  of  won- 
der to  the  practical-minded  American — this  unprac- 
tical and  labour-making  method  of  catering  to  peo- 
ple. "  Lodgings  "  can  be  made  as  expensive  or  cheap 
as  one  wishes,  but  their  virtue  usually  lies  in  their  use- 
fulness for  small  incomes. 

The  private  hotel  is  another  British  institution, 
and  is  really  a  glorified  lodging  house  on  hotel  lines, 


140      THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

except,  of  course,  one  does  not  have  to  buy  their 
provisions;  meals  are  served  to  you  alone  in  a  private 
dining-room  at  any  hour  you  wish,  or  privately  in  the 
public  dining-room,  all  of  which  makes  for  the  ex- 
clusiveness  so  dear  to  the  Britisher  at  home  or  abroad. 
The  private  hotel  is  apt  to  be  very  good  indeed,  and 
it  should  be,  for  it  is  quite  as  expensive  as  any  aver- 
age type  of  hotel.  This  would  naturally  be  the  case, 
where  one  pays  for  special  service  and  special  priv- 
ileges, and  there  is  no  question  about  the  protection 
it  affords  to  the  timid  woman  traveller;  any  unpleas- 
ant experiences  that  could  break  through  the  barriers 
of  life  in  one  of  these  hotels,  usually  occupied  by  the 
most  orthodox  family  parties,  would  have  to  be  engi- 
neered by  a  very  bold,  bad  and  determined  person. 

A  more  intimate  alternative  is  to  become  a  paying 
guest  in  an  English  family.  Their  advertisements 
are  to  be  found  in  all  the  weekly  journals  for  women 
readers.  From  some  points  of  view  these  advertise- 
ments are  often  quaint. 

"  A  clergyman's  family  would  be  glad  to  take  as  a 
paying  guest  a  lady  fond  of  country  sports,  of  a 
sociable  disposition,  who  would  lend  herself  to  being 
a  pleasant  companion — a  good  tennis  player";  or, 
*'  One  who  is  musical  is  preferred — and  to  do  her 
part  in  the  entertainment;  prices  to  be  mutually 
agreed  upon,  or  terms  arranged  by  letter." 

One  is  really  treated  as  a  guest  and  is  only  re- 
minded of  her  true  position  by  the  weekly  or  monthly 
bill  rendered.  All  of  this — if  you  avail  yourself  of 
such  an  opportunity — places  one  in  the  difficult  posi- 


THE  LONE  WOMAN  TRAVELLER        141 

tion  of  self-analysis.  Are  you  social?  Are  you  en- 
tertaining? What  would  happen  if  you  did  not  fill 
the  bill?  Would  your  money  be  refunded?  These 
arrangements  seem  to  work  in  England  in  a  way  that 
does  not  seem  possible  elsewhere. 

The  French  have  caught  the  fever,  and  ^^paying 
guest/'  like  many  English  words,  is  incorporated  in 
every-day  usage. 

You  can  be  invited  to  become  a  paying  guest  in  an 
ancient  chateau  in  the  veritable  Chateau  Country, 
where  there  are  boar  and  stag  hunts  bi-weekly. 
This  may  be  a  little  strong  for  the  ladies,  to  be  sure, 
but  another  chatelaine  of  a  chateau  will  receive  one 
and  give  lessons  in  the  language  as  well  as  social 
advantages  in  addition  to  board  and  lodging.  That 
is  milder! 

The  small  English  country  railway  station,  with  its 
neat  garden,  is  a  model  of  its  kind  in  outward  looks 
at  least,  but  the  big  stations  of  the  cities  are  par- 
ticularly unattractive.  Each  class  has  its  waiting- 
room,  all  equally  dingy  and  that  of  the  first  none  too 
good  to  make  use  of  even  if  one's  ticket  is  second 
class.  One  penny  is  charged  for  use  of  the  lavatory 
— a  universal  custom  in  Europe  at  any  public  toilet. 

The  train-guard  can  usually  be  bribed  with  a  shil- 
ling or  half  a  crown  to  slap  a  "  reserved  "  label  on 
the  window  of  one's  compartment  and  thus  keep  out 
others,  though  the  lone  woman  does  not  want  too 
much  exclusiveness — a  crowd  is  safer.  Without  a 
tip  the  guard  can  be  made  to  put  on  a  "  ladies  only  " 
sign  on  the  window  if  there  is  no  compartment  so 


142      THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

labelled  already,  but  It  Is  just  as  well  to  take  travel- 
ling conditions  as  one  finds  them.  At  one's  destina- 
tion you  go  with  the  porter  to  the  van  to  sort  out 
the  trunks.  It  looks  easy  to  go  off  with  anybody's 
baggage,  but  It  Is  seldom  that  baggage  Is  lost  or  goes 
astray. 

On  the  through  express  trains  there  are  Imita- 
tion, or  miniature,  Pullman  cars,  satisfactory  enough 
— as  imitations — but  not  at  all  to  be  compared  In 
comfort  with  the  real  thing.  There  are  also  first- 
and  third-class  dining-cars.  The  best  trains  on  which 
to  travel  third  class  In  Great  Britain  are  the  Scotch 
expresses,  second  class  having  been  abolished  and  the 
third  considerably  Improved. 

You  keep  warm  with  a  primitive  zinc  foot-warmer 
filled  with  hot  water,  and  even  so,  you  frequently 
have  to  tip  to  get  one.  If  you  wish  to  convey  the 
impression  that  you  know  your  way  about,  you  put 
your  feet  on  this  foot-warmer,  wrap  a  rug  about  your 
knees  and  sit  with  the  window  wide  open.  In  sum- 
mer the  process  Is  reversed,  and  the  windows  are 
tightly  shut  to  keep  out  dust. 

When  the  woman  traveller  leaves  England  and 
crosses  over  to  the  lands  of  strange  speech,  her  next 
stopping  place  Is  likely  enough  Paris  and  the  Paris 
pension. 

The  most  common  delusion  under  which  the  lone 
woman  traveller  labours  Is  the  ancient  Idea  that  a 
pension,  the  European  boarding  house,  Is  safer  than 
a  hotel.  Just  what  she  means  by  safer  Is  not  quite 
easy  to  define.    If  what  is  meant  Is  that  It  gives  her 


,5 


^3 

o 


THE  LONE  WOMAN  TRAVELLER        143 

more  the  protection  of  a  home,  she  is  wrong,  for 
It  simply  increases  the  danger  that  a  young  girl  at 
least  would  be  exposed  to.  Life  in  this  case  is  far 
more  Intimate  than  that  of  the  hotel,  and  she  is 
brought  in  daily  contact,  in  a  way  that  cannot  be 
avoided,  with  the  other  inmates  who  might  or  might 
not  be  desirable,  though  she  rarely  has  any  oppor- 
tunity for  knowing  before  she  is  entangled  in  ac- 
quaintances and  friendships  that  ofttimes  result  in 
tiresome  or  compromising  situations.  The  least  of 
the  objections  of  the  pensions  is  that  they  are  worth- 
less as  time-savers,  while  even  the  best,  from  the  very 
intimate  nature  of  their  arrangements,  are  breeding 
places  for  the  most  pernicious  gossip,  for  which  the 
average  woman  away  from  home  makes  the  easiest  of 
targets. 

The  thing  that  commends  the  pension  more  than 
anything  else  to  the  economically  minded,  and  this  is 
a  phase  of  Interest  to  the  lone  woman  traveller  who 
often  has  to  study  her  finances  carefully,  Is  that  it  is 
cheaper  than  a  hotel.  It  is  cheaper  than  some  hotels, 
it  is  true,  but  a  really  first-class  pension  costs  at  least 
two  dollars  to  two  dollars  and  a  half  a  day,  and 
there  are  plenty  of  excellent  small  hotels  where 
one  can  live  for  this  sum  or  even  less.  Many  even 
of  the  large  purely  tourist  hotels  make  pension  rates, 
that  is,  rates  by  the  week  or  month,  at  a  great  reduc- 
tion on  those  for  transients.  The  cheapest  pension 
that  could  possibly  pass  muster  would  be  seven  francs 
a  day,  and  against  this  is  the  small  country  inn,  not 
too  far  from  town,  where  pension  can  be  got  not  only 


144      THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

for  this  amount,  but  very  often  for  as  little  as  five  or 
six  francs,  provided  one  does  some  bargaining,  and 
has  an  understanding  and  appreciation  of  local  condi- 
tions. There  is  no  question  as  to  the  superiority  of 
the  accommodation  offered  as  between  the  two,  and 
one  should  remember  that  the  very  publicity  of  a 
hotel  is  certainly  safer  than  the  promiscuous  intimacy 
of  the  boarding-house  table,  where  your  next  neigh- 
mour  may  be  a  pseudo  nobleman  (or  what  is  worse, 
a  real  one)  who  wants  no  better  sport  than  acquaint- 
ance with  one  of  these  charming  Americans  for 
whom  he  spreads  the  net  of  his  fascinations,  a  net 
into  which  she  has  often  so  readily  fallen. 

The  foreign  man  plays  the  game  very  differently 
from  what  the  girl  has  been  accustomed  to  at  home. 

The  Paris  pension  is  an  institution  of  its  class 
which  may  fill  a  want,  but  in  most  cases  it  is  an 
unfortunate  frame  to  choose  through  which  to  look 
at  the  foreign  picture.  Many  of  them  are  conducted 
with  considerable  genius  by  their  proprietors  and  a 
certain  respectability  is  presumed,  whatever  the  sig- 
nificance that  vague  term  may  have  for  the  twentieth- 
century  American  woman  who  is  quite  able  to  take 
care  of  herself,  and  has  been  since  she  left  short 
dresses  and  the  grammar  school. 

Travel  means  something  else  besides  churches,  ruins 
and  shops.  It  means  the  life  of  big  and  little  hotels, 
dinner  at  a  Paris  boulevard  restaurant  or  at  some 
little  dining  place  that  has  a  world-wide  reputation 
for  its  homely  dish  of  sausages,  or  again  in  some  little 
artists'  resort    Then  one  goes  to  the  cafe  afterwards 


THE  LONE  WOMAN  TRAVELLER        145 

for  a  filtre,  and  this  makes  up  the  round  which  is  more 
enjoyable  than  that  which  is  the  lot  of  the  woman 
who  lives  in  a  pension  and  has  it  on  her  mind  most  of 
the  time  that  she  must  hurry  back  for  lunch  or  dinner 
or  she  won't  get  any  soup;  she  often  loses  sight  of 
the  fact,  too,  that  she  has  wasted  hours  of  her  time 
finding  the  way  home,  and  the  carfare  which  she  has 
expended  has  more  than  made  up  for  any  difference 
in  price  which  there  might  have  been  had  she  made 
different  arrangements. 

A  pension  is  an  uneconomical  and  inconvenient 
thing.  It  is  not  for  eating  three  meals  a  day  with 
one's  own  compatriots  in  a  stuffy  salle  a  manger  in 
a  Paris  back-flat  that  one  has  come  across  to  spend 
maybe  hard-earned  wealth  and  gone  through  the 
mental  anguish  of  learning  new  monetary  systems 
and  struggling  with  several  languages.  Oh,  those 
long  tables,  or  even  small  tables,  to  which  one  comes 
with  tired  brain  and  feet  after  the  strenuous  duty 
of  having  looked  up  everything  mentioned  in  the 
guide-book!  Oh,  the  tales  that  one  must  listen  to 
from  one's  feWow-pensionnairesf  What  dull  ex- 
changes of  stale  impressions,  as  lacking  often  in  char- 
acter as  the  food! 

The  purely  French  pension  (not  the  international 
kind)  is  cheap,  cheaper  usually  than  those  run  by 
English-speaking  persons  in  Paris,  but  to  tell  the 
truth  they  are  usually  conducted  on  lines  far  too 
parsimonious  to  suit  the  prodigal  American.  The 
problem  of  food  supply  is  worked  out  a  little  too 
mathematically,  and  one  may  possibly  rebel  at  a  meat 


146      THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

stew,  a  scrimpy  salad,  a  bit  of  cheese  and  one  indif- 
ferent pear  for  the  midday  meal.  Then,  too,  the  in- 
dependent movements  of  the  American  woman  are 
often  not  understood  by  her  French  fellows,  and 
that  makes  a  perhaps  not  too  pleasant  gossip. 

It  is  far  better  for  a  young  girl  to  go  into  a  French 
family  than  to  attempt  the  life  of  any  pension  in 
Paris,  however  well  recommended.  Just  think  of  the 
good  French  families  who  would  be  pleased  to  take 
as  a  paying  guest  an  American  girl  or  two.  At  the 
not  exorbitant  price  of  ten  francs  a  day  she  will  have 
board  and  lodging  en  famille,  be  given  lessons  in 
French  (real  practical  lessons),  be  chaperoned  to  the 
lectures  at  the  Sorbonne,  to  such  amusements  as  are 
deemed  suitable,  etc.  This  may  appear  a  rather  mild 
regime  for  the  enterprising  American  girl,  but  de- 
pend upon  it  the  family  will  take  as  much  pains  to 
please  as  if  she  were  a  real  guest.  They  will  take 
her  shopping  and  see  that  she  gets  good  value  for  her 
money,  as  few  lone  American  women  ever  do;  they 
will  not  take  advantage  of  her  but  may  even  attempt 
to  curb  her  extravagances  and,  if  they  are  the  right 
sort,  the  rigidness  and  simplicity  of  French  home- 
life  will  not  prove  an  ineffectual  antidote  against 
precociousness. 

It  seems  rather  adventuresome  to  send  the  lone 
woman  out  on  a  quest  for  rooms  in  a  hotel-meuble, 
but  Paris  is  peculiarly  a  city  of  small  hotels  that  do 
not  furnish  meals,  where  rooms  can  be  had  for  three 
or  four  francs  a  day,  and  such,  when  found  of  a 
desired  and  approved  quality,  will  give  the  woman 


THE  LONE  WOMAN  TRAVELLER         147 

old  enough  to  take  care  of  herself  a  freedom  of 
movement  that  she  should  appreciate.  Especially 
might  this  prove  to  be  the  case  if  she  were  obliged  to 
"  do  "  Paris  In  a  few  days. 

The  usual  French  breakfast  would  be  served  by 
the  hotel,  and  for  her  other  meals  she  could  patronise 
any  of  the  restaurants  which  she  might  come  across  in 
her  sight-seeing.  She  can,  in  fact,  do  anything  that 
she  wishes  in  Paris  if  she  behaves  herself.  She  will 
feel  most  comfortable  in  one  of  the  numerous  Duval 
establishments  which  are  so  conveniently  planted 
around  the  city.  Here  the  quality  of  the  food  is  of 
the  best,  and  a  good,  if  not  a  bounteous  meal,  can  be 
had  for  two  or  three  francs  and  a  five-cent  tip. 
Don't  forget  that  at  all  French  restaurants  the  diner 
pays  for  the  convert — table  linen,  knives  and  forks — 
a  matter  of  four  or  six  cents  or  more. 

Across  the  Seine,  over  in  the  Latin  Quarter,  there 
are  numbers  of  cheap  restaurants,  fairly  good  and 
moderate  in  price,  many  of  them  patronised  largely 
by  English-speaking  students  of  both  sexes.  The  air 
is  thick  with  art  talk,  and  the  tables  are  usually 
crowded  for  a  brief  hour  or  two  twice  a  day,  some- 
times even  overflowing  on  to  the  sidewalk.  Other 
restaurants  there  are  in  this  quarter  where  manners 
are  more  free  and  had  best  be  ignored. 

No  prix  fixe  meal  in  Paris  (usually  referred  to  by 
the  unknowing  as  table  d'hote)  at  a  less  price  than 
three  francs  Is  to  be  considered  for  a  moment.  Any- 
thing less  than  this  must  be  looked  upon  with  sus- 
picion,   and  those   establishments   that   advertise   a 


148      THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

dinner  of  eight  courses  for  one  franc  fifty,  or  one 
franc  seventy-five  centimes,  wine  included;  or  three 
francs  with  a  quarter  of  a  bottle  of  champagne, 
should  most  certainly  be  shunned.  At  such  establish- 
ments it  is  likely  that  the  roast  beef  will  come  from 
that  little  shop  around  the  corner  that  has  a  gilded 
horse^s  head  over  its  doorway;  the  real  roast  beef 
comes  from  a  butcher  whose  sign  is  a  gilded  steer's 
head.  The  sign  language  sometimes  speaks  louder 
than  words. 

The  hostile  attitude  of  the  American  hotel  to- 
wards the  woman  who  travels  alone  has  tinged  her 
attitude  and  prejudiced  her  against  the  foreign  hotel, 
but  she  need  have  no  fear  of  her  reception  in  any 
class  of  European  hotel.  There  is  scarcely  any  class 
which  is  not  perfectly  proper  for  her  to  go  to,  whether 
she  drives  up  to  the  great  tourist  Grand  Hotel  in  an 
automobile,  by  the  common  bus  to  the  hotel  of  the 
country  town,  or  walks  in  to  the  little  village  inn, 
with  her  bag  in  her  hand.  She  will  never  be  looked 
at  askance,  or  even  suspiciously,  but  will  meet  with 
the  same  courtesy  and  attention  as  if  she  was  most 
conventionally  chaperoned. 

If  she  is  stared  at  it  will  most  likely  be  out  of 
simple  curiosity  and  rarely  as  an  impertinence,  for 
the  spectacle  of  the  unchaperoned  young  woman  is 
still  a  source  of  amazement  to  the  foreigner,  although 
along  the  main  lines  of  travel  he  has  been  trained  to 
accept  her  presence  with  a  good  grace. 

Paris  is  as  safe  for  the  average  woman  as  a  New 
England  village,  but  Berlin,  in  her  endeavour  to  be- 


THE  LONE  WOMAN  TRAVELLER        149 

come  a  competitor  of  Paris  in  the  affections  of  the 
tourist,  is  trying  hard  to  get  up  a  reputation  for 
gaiety  and  wickedness,  seeing  that  Paris  has  been 
so  successful  in  attracting  trade  along  these  lines,  and 
life  and  amusements  in  Berlin  are  being  modelled 
more  and  more  after  those  of  Paris.     The  German 


may  be  more  sincerely  aggressive  than  the  French- 
man, but  In  the  case  of  the  Frenchman  it  is  often  a 
mischievous  schoolboy  desire  to  tease  the  foreign 
*'  Miss  '*  and  see  if  he  can  give  her  a  start,  rather  than 
any  real  deviltry;  her  mixture  of  what  he  considers 
boldness  and  prudery  Is  very  amusing  to  him. 


I50      THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

The  safety  of  any  woman  lies  In  her  own  hands, 
and  there  is  no  reason  why  she  can't  tour  Europe  with 
only  slight  annoyances  of  a  personal  nature  which 
fade  away  if  ignored. 

Railway  travel  anywhere  in  Europe  is  disagree- 
able, but  especially  so  in  France.     The  construction 


of  the  carriages,  whether  of  the  old  type  with  the 
door  at  either  side,  or  the  corridor  train,  where  the 
movements  of  one  person  disturb  every  one  else,  is 
largely  responsible  for  this,  but  the  travellers  so  hav- 
ing the  habit  of  making  themselves  "  at  home  "  en 
voyage  accounts  for  a  great  deal  more. 

The  American  woman  often  says,  "  How  rude," 
while  in  reality  it  is  simply  thoughtlessness  and  a 
lack  of  knowledge  of  the  ethics  of  travel. 

The  foreigner  eats  most  of  the  time  while  travel- 


THE  LONE  WOMAN  TRAVELLER        151 

ling,  often  removes  many  of  his  or  her  garments 
and  tries  to  shut  out  every  breath  of  fresh  air.  He, 
or  she,  or  the  pair  of  them,  overload  the  rack  over 
one's  head  with  curious,  knobby  packages  which  they 
spend  most  of  their  time  taking  down  and  putting 
up.  They  smuggle  small  dogs  in  under  the  seat,  for 
which  they  should  have  bought  a  ticket  and  had  car- 
ried in  the  baggage  car.  Of  course  one  can  object 
to  the  little  beast  and  have  it  put  out,  but  as  one 
American  girl  harshly  put  it — she  preferred  the  ani- 
mal to  the  people  who  owned  it.  But  the  English- 
woman in  her  own  land  is  the  real  offender  with  the 
travelling  dog,  for  it  is  usually  a  large  one. 

The  European  express  train  with  sleeping-  and 
dining-car  accommodations,  rather  cynically  named 
"  train  de  luxe,"  Is  really  de  luxe  only  In  price  and 
could  not  be  made  to  pay  a  profit  on  even  the 
most  indifferent  and  roundabout  American  trunk 
lines. 

Besides  the  Wagon-lit,  or  sleeping-car,  there  is  an 
abomination  known  as  the  fauteuil-lit,  which  is  sim- 
ply a  stuffed  chair  pulled  out  lengthwise,  three  to  a 
compartment,  with  a  promiscuity  that  Is  horrible  even 
if  one  is  travelling  en  famille.  The  lavatory  does 
not  usually  deserve  to  be  mentioned  and  were  better 
not  even  entered. 

Some  of  the  more  important  of  the  International 
Sleeping  Car  Co.'s  trains  are  a  bit  In  advance  of  this, 
but  they  are  generally  very  crowded,  expensive.  In- 
adequate and  being  usually  so  light  are  most  uncom- 
fortable at  high  speed. 


152      THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

Usually  the  best  express  trains  on  the  Continent, 
for  which  no  extra  fares  are  charged,  run  by  night, 
and  their  capacity  Is  almost  Invariably  overcharged. 
The  corridor  Is  usually  full  of  standing  passengers, 
and  the  lone  woman  may  have  to  spend  the  night 
sitting  on  her  bag  In  everybody's  path.  Day  travel 
is  preferable,  and  the  circumstances  are  rarely  so 
pressing  that  a  night  journey  cannot  be  avoided  by 
a  stop-over. 

Of  course  some  of  these  annoyances  and  the  quality 
of  one's  travelling  companions  can  be  improved  if 
one  Invariably  travels  first  class  on  the  ordinary  train, 
but  the  price  Is  double  that  of  the  popular  second 
class.  Third-class  travel  is  really  not  more  objec- 
tionable than  the  second  that  the  traveller  usually 
patronises,  and  not  any  more  crowded;  It  Is  at  least 
amusing  to  see  the  people  of  the  country,  and  wooden 
benches  or  a  leather-covered  seat  is  preferable  on 
all  counts  to  a  stuffy  cloth  covering.  There  are  ob- 
jections, it  Is  true,  but  the  herded  masses  of  human- 
ity one  now  sees  on  European  express  trains  to  and 
from  the  great  seaports  are  not  far  different  In  physi- 
ognomy. 

Railway  journeys  In  Spain  lead  In  Inconvenience 
and  tedium  and  give  the  traveller  the  Impression  of 
spending  most  of  the  time  at  way  stations,  but  the 
carriages  are  cleaner  than  many  of  those  of  France 
and  Italy,  and  In  many  respects  the  reserved  Span- 
iard Is  a  less  objectionable  travelling  companion. 
One  buys  drinking  water  at  the  stations  in  cool,  moist 
earthen  jugs,  an  Improvement  on  the  rasping  mineral 


THE  LONE  WOMAN  TRAVELLER       153 

waters  that  are  the  only  liquids  beside  wine  that  can 
be  got  mostly  in  Europe. 

The  woman  who  does  not  like  to  be  stared  at 
should  not  go  to  Spain.  The  expected  form  of  ex- 
pressing admiration  by  the  Spanish  man  is  to  stare 
into  a  woman's  face  and  make  audible  remarks,  it  is 
to  be  hoped  of  a  flattering  tenor.  It  is  a  new  experi- 
ence to  walk  along  the  streets  and  be  greeted  with 
laughter  and  lively  personal  comments. 

The  Italians  are  almost  embarrassing  with  their 
attentions,  though  they  take  the  less  objectionable 
form  of  a  childish  curiosity,  but  in  both  cases  it  is  a  re- 
lief to  go  across  the  Mediterranean  into  north  Africa. 
Even  to  the  most  untamed  outer  post  of  tourism — 
Tangiers.  Yes,  Tangiers,  too,  is  all  right  for  the 
lone  woman,  who  can  live  in  a  tourist  hotel  there  for 
ten  francs  a  day  or  a  more  modest  French  one  for 
seven  or  eight  and  engage  a  "guide"  to  chaperon 
her  on  her  wanderings  in  the  markets  and  bazaars 
for  a  small  sum. 

The  same  thing  is  true  of  Algiers  and  Tunis. 
Most  north  African  hotels  have  a  corps  of  native 
guides,  one  of  whom  can  be  hired  for  something  like 
three  to  five  francs  a  day  and  who  for  the  time  being 
will  be  yours  to  command.  While  by  no  means  a 
necessity,  such  a  guide  will  be  invaluable  as  a  cicerone 
and  in  preventing  the  natives  from  annoying  one. 

The  Englishwoman  first  made  Continental  Europe 
acquainted  with  the  lone  woman  traveller.  There  are 
so  many  Englishwomen  with  small  incomes  that  one 
meets  them  alone  and  unattached  all  over  Europe. 


154      THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

She  is  in  quite  a  different  class  from  the  restless- 
minded  American  who  no  sooner  gets  into  a  place 
than  she  wants  to  know  "  what  there  is  to  do."  This 
phase  does  not  bother  the  Englishwoman.  To  tell 
the  truth,  she  has  a  clearer  idea  of  what  it  is  that  she 
wants.  She  is  either  sketching  in  water  colours,  learn- 
ing a  language  or  busy  occupying  herself  by  studying 
the  people,  their  literature  or  their  mode  of  life. 


STUMBLING-BLOCK  OF  THE  TIP 

THE  TIP  A  MENACE  TO  TRAVEL 

A  WORD  OF  PRAISE  FOR  THE  TIP 

TIPPING  NOT  AN  EXACT  SCIENCE 

STEAMER  TIPS 

POOLING  THE  TIPS 

"  TEN  PER  CENT  ''  PLAN 

MEDIUM-PRICED  TIPS 

SUBTLE  ENGLISH  "  THANK  YOU  " 

MINOR  TIPS 

THE  *'  POURBOIRE  "  IN  THE  SMALL  FRENCH  HOTEL 

WHEN  THE  GERMAN  SOUNDS  THE  GONG 

CALCULATING  SWISS 

TIPS  AT  THE  AVERAGE  TOURIST  HOTEL 

GOLD-BRAIDED  BRIGADE  OF  THE  GRAND   HOTEL 

THE  TIPPING-LINE 

TIPPING   SYSTEM  OF  THE   PALACE   HOTEL 

"  TEN  PER  CENT  OF  THE  BILL  "    DON't  ALWAYS  GO 

THIRTY-THREE    AND  ONE-THIRD  PER  CENT    OF  THE 

BILL 
THE  AUTOMOBILE  AND  ITS  SATELLITES 
NO  SYSTEM  INFALLIBLE 
A  GALLANT  AMERICAN  MAN 


VI 

TIPS  AND  TIPPING 

Next  to  the  handicap  of  the  language  in  a  foreign 
country  comes  the  stumbling-block  of  the  tip.  These 
two  things  take  the  bloom  off  the  pleasure  of  travel 
more  than  anything  else.  The  TIP  (it  might  as 
well  be  put  in  capitals  since  it  is  so  important)  has 
pushed  itself  entirely  too  far  forward  in  the  scheme 
of  European  travel;  it  menaces  one  from  all  sides, 
not  so  much  from  its  size  as  from  its  frequency.  It 
is  not  that  the  right-minded  traveller  seeks  to  shirk 
responsibility  and  thus  worries  over  the  thing  unduly, 
but  rather  it  is  that  one  is  inflicted  with  a  sort  of 
nervous  strain  in  the  effort  to  do  the  right  thing. 

The  unknowing  are  never  sure  that  the  tip  is  not 
waiting  in  ambush  to  spring  upon  one  unawares. 
To  many  tired  brains  surcharged  with  dates,  new 
impressions  and  new  experiences  it  comes  as  a  last 
burden,  and  often,  not  having  the  strength  to  reason 
it  out  logically,  one  follows  that  line  of  the  least  re- 
sistance which  spells  demoralisation  and  succumbs 
forthwith. 

The  tip  has  been  so  often  blamed  that  it  is  not 
amiss  to  give  it  a  word  of  praise.  In  its  inception 
it  was  not  altogether  a  bad  thing,  but  formed  a 
part  of  the  legitimate  price  one  expected  to  pay  for 
a  pleasurable  emotion,  a  service  cheerfully  and  will- 

157 


158      THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

ingly  rendered,  or  a  good  dinner  well  served.  What 
more  natural  that  your  contentment  should  overflow 
and  that  you  should  reward  the  one  who  had  been 
the  humble  instrument  which  made  these  things  pos- 
sible. In  those  times  the  tip  was  appreciated,  was 
gratefully  received,  even  warmly,  and  a  cordial  re- 
lationship was  established  that  left  a  genial  glow  on 
both  sides.  It  was  the  personal  expression  of  one's 
satisfaction  and  was  so  looked  upon  by  giver  and 
receiver.  After  all,  we  buy  so  much  in  our  journey 
through  this  world,  why  not  buy  a  little  politeness? 

From  being  a  spontaneous  expression  of  gratitude 
the  tip  has  since  become  a  classified  demand  of  the 
"  stand  and  deliver  "  order  and  must  be  considered 
from  a  purely  dispassionate  business  viewpoint. 

Unfortunately  tipping  is  not  an  exact  science;  if 
one  could  regulate  it  as  they  do  the  food  and  drink 
problem  the  question  would  be  simply  one  of  finance, 
but  when  the  personal  equation  enters,  one  risks 
going  adrift  on  an  unknown  sea.  Everything  de- 
pends upon  time  and  place,  the  services  rendered  and 
that  frequently  unknown  quantity,  the  custom  of  the 
country.  Nothing  marks  the  seasoned  traveller,  or 
betrays  the  novice,  so  much  as  the  manner  of  tip- 
ping. To  give  too  much  is  as  bad  as  to  give  too 
little. 

There  are  many  formulae  but,  like  most  of  the 
delicate  points  of  conduct,  the  correct  solution  de- 
pends largely  upon  the  individual.  Specific  advice  is 
difficult  to  give  and  no  set  of  rules  can  cover  ^11 
eventualities. 


TIPS  AND  TIPPING  159 

Women  travellers  are  supposed  to  be  less  lav- 
ish with  the  pourhoire  than  men,  and  this  with 
truth.  Woman's  instinct  is  more  frugal  and  she  has 
the  moral  courage  not  to  tip  to  impress  the  waiter, 
a  point  of  contact  where  the  lack  of  nerve  in  mere 
man  causes  him  to  sometimes  suffer.  Her  instincts 
are  to  deal  fairly  on  a  just,  if  close,  margin  of  ex- 
penditure, until,  in  a  harassed  moment,  she  shuts 
her  lips  tightly  and  declares  she  won't  give  another 
cent.  Man  in  such  a  crisis  weakens  and  empties  his 
pockets.     Each  instance  shows  a  lack  of  dignity. 

The  tip  bogey  catches  the  traveller  in  .  its  grip 
from  the  moment  foot  is  set  on  shipboard.  About 
the  fourth  day  out  the  confidentially  whispered  query 
begins  to  circulate :  *'  How  much  do  you  think  one 
ought  to  give,  etc.  ?  "  Each  hopes  to  gain  strength 
from  a  knowledge  of  the  views  of  neighbours.  The 
captain  not  infrequently  has  the  question  propounded 
to  him,  thus  adding  to  the  long  list  of  problems  to 
solve  with  which  he  is  already  perplexed.  Always 
gallant,  a  ship's  captain  will  usually  side  with  the 
ladies,  and  may  even  give  them  an  intimation  that 
tips  are  pooled  anyway.  Blessed  solution!  This 
only  means  handing  over  a  lump  sum  to  the  chief 
steward  and  receiving  his  lordly  thanks.  This  plan 
has  worked,  and  apparently  well,  under  some  cir- 
cumstances, but  it  IS  by  no  means  a  universal  practice. 
It  is  certainly  a  less  complicated  procedure  than  being 
obliged  to  apportion  the  sum  of  one's  fees  with  dis- 
crimination and  has  much  in  its  favour. 

There  is  of  course  a  natural  and  well-recognised 


i6o      THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

feeling  that  If  some  special  service  has  been  well 
rendered  that  one  should  personally  hand  over  the 
emolument  therefor.  But  the  embarrassing  ques- 
tion of  *'  How  much  "  automatically  imposes  itself. 

For  the  traveller  of  modest  means,  with  the  aver- 
age duration  of  the  period  of  sea-sickness — one  to 
two  days — and  who  makes  the  average  demands 
upon  the  patience  and  services  of  the  ship's  servants, 
ten  dollars  should  be  an  ample  tax,  and  one  which 
will  allow  her  to  leave  even  the  most  luxurious  and 
fashionable  of  the  modern  flyers  without  embarrass- 
ment. The  thing  can  be  cut  twenty-five  per  cent,  or 
even  one-third,  but  there  is  a  tendency,  as  the  prices 
of  steamship  passages  advance,  for  the  ratio  of  the 
proportion  of  tips  to  advance  also. 

On  this  basis  some  such  apportioning  of  the  sum 
as  follows  should  fill  the  bill :  Two  dollars  and  a  half 
to  the  table  steward;  the  same  to  the  stewardess;  a 
dollar,  or  a  dollar  and  a  half,  to  the  deck  stewards 
who  dispense  broth  and  tea  and  toast  and  keep  your 
deck  chair  and  steamer  rugs  ready  at  hand;  another 
dollar,  or  half  as  much  again,  would  go  to  the  in- 
dividual who  prepares  your  morning  bath,  if  indeed 
this  did  not  happen  to  be  your  stewardess.  Then 
there  is  the  "  boots  "  for  a  trifle,  and  the  library 
steward  who  hands  out  the  latest  novels  for  you  to 
read,  and  finally  the  subscription  for  the  band.  On 
such  a  basis  of  reckoning,  ten  dollars  Is  thus  readily 
absorbed.  Recently  a  new  phase  of  the  question 
has  opened  up.  On  one  of  the  largest,  though  not 
the  fastest  of  North  Atlantic  steamships  a  subscrip- 


TIPS  AND  TIPPING 


Ibl 


tion  was  taken  up  for  the  cooks.  Another  tax,  but 
was  It  not  a  deserving  one? 

Since  ladles  are  now  beginning  to  make  use  of  the 
smoking-rooms,  on  the  big  Mediterranean-bound 
steamships  In  particular,  one  wonders  If  they  ought 
not  to  contribute  something  In  that  direction  also. 
There  Is  the  gymnasium,  too,  which  certainly  ought 
to  be  paid  for  If  used,  though  It  Is  down  In  the  line's 
advertisements  as  free. 

If  one  occupies  a  de  luxe  suite  on  the  upper  prome- 
nade deck  and  takes  his,  or  her,  meals  In  private, 
naturally  the  tips  take  on  more  or  less  the  com- 
plexion of  the  surroundings  of  the  giver.  If  five 
hundred  dollars  Is  paid  for  a  crossing,  a  fifty-dollar 
tip  Is  not  disproportionate. 

Again,  if  constant  attention  is  required  by  the  or- 
dinarily modest  travellers,  meals  served  on  deck  at 
all  hours,  special  dishes  and  special  services  all  along 
the  line,  why,  as  for  all  such  transactions,  a  readjust- 
ment of  the  scale  must  be  made.  With  a  little  judi- 
cious care  and  forethought  steamer  tips  can  be  easily 
kept  down  to  their  proper  proportion,  and  it  should 
be  the  duty  of  the  conscientious  traveller  to  see  that 
they  are. 

Immediately  one  lands,  a  new  set  of  troubles  be- 
gin. Herr  Baedeker's  useful  little  red  books  Indorse 
the  "  ten  per  cent  plan,"  the  tips  amounting  to  ten 
per  cent  of  the  charge.  Tips  more  often  stand  or 
fall  on  their  own  merits,  their  relation  to  the  volume 
of  service  rendered  rather  than  to  the  cost  thereof. 
For  a  short  stay  the  ten  per  cent  plan  may  really 


i62      THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

prove  economical,  but  for  a  protracted  sojourn  the 
reverse  may  be  the  case.  Tips  for  a  week,  for  in- 
stance, ought  not,  in  the  majority  of  cases,  to  be 
greatly  in  excess  of  those  for  three  days,  certainly 
not  a  hundred  per  cent  more.  Actually  among  the 
knowing  the  ratio  is  a  diminishing  one,  which  is 
logical. 

Certain  hotels  have  officially  recognised  this  ten 
per  cent  plan  and  mark  you  down  on  the  bill  for 
ten  per  cent  of  its  total  for  service.  This  is  a 
retrograde  movement,  however,  whatever  its  appar- 
ent advantages  may  be  for  the  timid.  One's  brain 
is  not  racked  with  arithmetic,  but  the  service  deteri- 
orates, inexplicably  perhaps,  but  manifestly.  What 
is  everybody's  business  is  apt  to  be  neglected  by  all, 
and  the  personal  incentive  for  a  waiter  to  see  that 
you  are  served  with  an  extra  fork  at  the  desired 
moment  is  lacking. 

The  unit  in  France,  Belgium,  Italy  and  Spain  being 
what  corresponds  to  the  franc  (which  is  not  twenty 
cents  do  not  forget :  the  United  States  government  in 
all  its  operations  reckons  it  at  but  $.193),  as  against 
the  shilling  in  England,  a  mark  in  Germany  (which 
are  valued  at  about  twenty-five  cents  each)  and  little 
Holland's  expensive  florin  at  nearly  forty  cents,  tip- 
ping in  these  twenty-cent  countries  comes  a  little  less 
than  at  home  where  one  so  lavishly  expends  quarters. 
Replace  these  larger  coins  with  that  which  is  nearest 
our  own  dime  and  you  will  well  solve  the  problem 
of  the  medium-priced  tip  abroad.  Manipulated  with 
just  the  right  legerdemain  the  coin  will  work  won- 


TIPS  AND  TIPPING  163 

ders  and  keep  the  bigger  silver  pieces,  as  the  French 
have  It,  from  rolling  down  hill  too  fast. 

In  England  the  little  silver  sixpence  will  unlock 
most  doors,  though  one  will  often  be  amazed  as  to 
the  class  of  people  who  will  accept  this  Insignificant 
talisman.  Black  silk-gowned  housekeepers  of  earls' 
mansions,  and  the  palms  of  stately,  plush-garbed 
footmen  and  butlers  will  readily  close  over  it,  and 
people  with  top  hats  and  frock  coats  will  respond 
with  an  unctlous  "  thank  you  ''  as  readily  as  if  you 
had  handed  them  a  dollar.  Remember  you  must, 
however,  that  every  one  above  the  rank  of  a  working 
man  in  England  wears  a  frock  coat,  often  your 
butcher  who  cuts  you  off  your  chops  and  steaks;  it 
amounts  almost  to  a  livery  of  non-conformist  re- 
spectability. 

Oh  I  that  subtle  English  "  thank  you  " ;  how  it 
can  be  made  to  run  the  gamut  of  politeness.  It 
can  be  made  to  express  every  shade  from  servility 
to  insolence.  Note  its  gradations  and  you  will  thus 
be  able  to  judge  how  nearly  right  was  your  tip. 
It  is  the  most  hard-worked  expression  in  the  English 
language.  One  likes  it  when  first  coming  over  from 
"  thankless  "  America,  but  the  later  mechanical  repe- 
titions get  very  much  on  the  nerves,  especially  when 
the  servants  degenerate  Into  the  practice  of  thanking 
themselves,  which  is  practically  what  it  amounts  to 
when  they  serve  you  to  the  accompaniment  of  a 
**  thank  you  "  from  their  own  lips. 

One  should  study  the  minor  tips  in  all  their  phases 
if  there  is  a  desire  to  be  respected.     In  England  give 


i64      THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

a  tuppence  only  to  the  railway  porter  when  he  carries 
your  rug  and  bag  from  the  cab  to  your  seat  in  the 
railway  carriage;  then  he  will  think  you  are  on 
speaking  terms,  at  least,  with  the  nobility.  If  there 
is  also  a  trunk  to  be  weighed  and  looked  after,  labelled 
and  put  in  the  "  van,''  a  sixpence  will  keep  him  from 
suspecting  that  you  are  one  of  those  spendthrift 
people  from  "  the  States." 

The  autO'taxi  has  largely  done  away  with  the 
widely  speculative  feature  of  one's  dealing  with  an 


unprincipled  cabby  of  other  days,  though  the  ques- 
tion still  remains  to  be  wrestled  with.  Here  again 
it  is,  or  should  be,  the  tuppence,  or,  in  taking  a  ride 
with  an  English  friend,  you  may  find  that  he  pays 
only  the  registered  fare. 

The  skidding  hansom  is  still  in  evidence  in  Lon- 
don's streets,  but  the  taxi  has  reduced  its  fare  to 
sixpence  a  mile.  In  some  ways  it  still  remains  a 
typical  mode  of  conveyance,  the  etiquette  of  which 
is  that  if  you  have   a   male   companion  the   doors 


TIPS  AND  TIPPING  165 

must  remain  open.  There  is  no  such  unwritten  law 
for  the  taxi. 

Five  sous,  twenty-five  centimes,  five  cents  should 
be  the  minor  tip  elsewhere  in  Europe,  perhaps  ten 
or  twenty  pfennigs  in  Germany  or  twenty  Dutch 
cents.  Such  a  schedule  or  rate  of  payment  can  usu- 
ally be  applied  to  the  minor  services  asked  for,  or 
offered  en  route,  and  in  most  cases  will  be  accepted 
graciously.  In  Belgium  even  the  street-car  conduc- 
tors are  not  averse  to  accepting  even  the  odd  sou. 
In  England  one  is  expected  to  give  the  postman  a 
tip  if  his  services  have  been  made  use  of  for  any 
but  the  briefest  of  periods.  This  charge  if  met  at 
all  calls  for  a  shilling,  though  the  usual  tourist  will 
not  often  stay  long  enough  in  any  one  place  to  come 
under  this  reckoning.  In  France  about  the  same 
state  of  affairs  exists,  unless  one  stays  in  a  pension 
or  hotel,  where  the  porter,  concierge  or  clerk  serves 
as  a  buffer. 

The  small  European  hotel  has  many  advantages 
over  the  great  caravanseries,  and  not  the  least  of 
these  is  the  freedom  from  the  obligation,  real  or 
implied,  of  superfluous  tipping.  The  staff  is  smaller 
to  begin  with,  and  its  duties  are  distinctly  defined. 
In  the  English  inn  there  will  be  a  mutton-chop-whis- 
kered waiter  in  the  coffee-room,  in  other  words,  the 
dining-room,  and  a  white-capped  maid  upstairs,  with 
a  small  "boots''  somewhere  in  the  background. 
These  are  to  be  remembered,  but  there  are  no  others. 
Two  shillings  and  sixpence,  half  a  crown,  ought  to 
cover  all  services  rendered  for  a  twenty-four  hour 


i66      THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

stay,  and  even  if  there  are  two  maids  this  should 
not  alter  the  tip's  total.  For  taking  the  baggage  to 
and  from  the  station  a  supplementary  tu'pence,  or 
even  sixpence,  can  be  added  to  the  former  sum  with- 
out a  loss  of  self-respect  or  a  feeling  that  it  may  be 
misunderstood. 

In  the  French  country  hotel  one  deals  with  an 
obliging  bonne  more  often  than  with  a  garqon,  and 
there  will  be  no  "  boots  "  in  the  English  sense.  Your 
shoes  will  be  looked  after  all  the  same,  and  for  the 
service  you  can  increase  the  bonnes  tip  for  cleaning 
them  and  she  will  be  all  the  more  grateful.  If  you 
dispense  a  couple  of  francs  of  largesse  for  a  thirty- 
six  hours'  stay  every  one  will  feel  that  they  have  been 
well  paid  and  four  or  five  francs  for  a  week  will 
prove  a  figure  to  command  respect.  It  it  quite  un- 
called for  that  one  should  remember  the  chef  in  the 
French  country  inn,  though  you  may  see  him  often 
enough  in  cook's  cap  and  apron  hanging  ingratiat- 
ingly around.  More  often  than  not,  in  spite  of  the 
garb,  it  will  be  the  proprietor  himself,  and  he  doesn't 
make  his  money  that  way,  so  don't  commit  a  faux 
pas.  In  the  purely  country  hotels  of  Italy  one  gets 
off  as  easily  as  in  France.  Two  servants  run  the 
establishment  as  a  rule  and  their  scale  of  expectations 
does  not  strike  a  very  high  note. 

In  Germany  the  feeling  is  that  the  small  hotel 
away  from  the  large  centres  is  given  to  exploiting 
the  stranger  on  all  hands.  Evidently  the  tourist  is 
looked  upon  as  an  idle,  wandering  person  of  a  certain 
tangible  wealth  from  which  he  has  a  desire  to  be 


TIPS  AND  TIPPING  167 

parted.  Perhaps,  In  many  cases,  this  Is  a  logical 
point  of  view  after  all.  Especially  may  the  woman 
traveller  notice  this.  The  Germans  have  a  saying: 
"  The  man  and  the  dog  can  go  out,  but  the  woman 
and  the  cat  must  stay  In.**  The  Germans  are  re- 
sponsible for  the  Ingenious  plan  of  sounding  a  gong 
to  warn  the  servants  of  the  departure  of  a  guest 
that  the  "  line  up  "  may  not  be  found  wanting.  A 
suspicion  that  there  Is  a  "  pooling  "  of  Interests  Is 
certainly  justified  here. 

The  Swiss  Is  the  most  calculating  person  that  ever 
held  out  an  Itching  palm  for  a  pourboire,  and  yet  he 
is  not  as  Insistent  as  the  Parisian  Frenchman,  nor  as 
vociferous  as  the  Italian  of  the  Tuscan  towns  beloved 
of  tourists.  It  Is  simply  that  he  Is  ever  ready  and 
on  the  spot,  looking  hard  for  whatever  may  be  com- 
ing to  him.  He  Is  rarely  demonstratively  grateful, 
and  his  thanks  are  invariably  perfunctory,  but  always 
he  does  his  duty  towards  the  traveller  according  to 
his  creed,  which  has  made  him  the  greatest  nation  of 
hotel  keepers  extant.  The  traveller  he  regards  as 
he  does  the  rain  sent  from  heaven,  the  manna  fallen 
from  the  trees,  and  his  chief  joy  Is  to  push  one  of 
these  money  spenders  Into  more  confined  quarters 
in  order  that  he  may  double  up  another  couple  where 
only  a  single  person  lodged  before.  As  for  the  per- 
sonnel of  the  class  that  lives  on  tips  they  expect 
always  that  the  present  prey  will  be  found  more 
juicy  than  the  last,  and,  again,  If  he  falls  short  of 
his  expectations  with  you  he  can  be  depended  upon  to 
take  it  out  of  the  next  comer.     His  Is  like  any  other 


i68      THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

business  and  his  chief  aim  is  to  have  the  balance  as 
far  over  on  the  right  side  of  the  profit  and  loss 
account  as  possible.  At  the  small  Swiss  hotel  one 
can  make  an  admirable  showing  with  a  franc  tip 
properly  bestowed,  but  it  must  be  done  with  the  air 
of  being  to  the  manner  born.  Two  francs  a  day  per 
head,  judiciously  divided  and  bestowed,  will  accom- 
plish a  great  deal  even  in  the  great  palace  hotels  of 
the  resorts.  The  Swiss  have  a  college  which  fits  the 
youth  of  the  land  for  the  business  of  hotel  keeping; 
whether  it  has  a  chair  of  tipping  or  not  the  writer 
does  not  know. 

The  European  hotel,  whether  It  be  great  or  small, 
that  caters  for  the  tourist  exclusively  is  the  best  ex- 
ponent of  the  successful  tip  system  of  graft.  Here 
the  tippees  are  an  organised  body,  and  even  In  the 
more  modest  establishments  each  one's  service  is  so 
attenuated  that  the  greatest  possible  return  is  assured 
the  combination.  Your  bill  may  have  been  a  modest 
enough  one  to  begin  with;  eight,  ten  or  twelve  lire 
a  day  perhaps,  or  as  many  francs,  but  should  you 
have  been  in  the  house  for  but  a  period  of  twenty-four 
hours  this  is  about  what  the  staff  would  work  out 
in  their  own  minds  as  being  their  due. 

Dining-room   waiter,    or   the 

maitre  d'hotel,  or  both     .      i   franc 

Chambermaid        .        .        .      i      " 

Hall  porter  .        .        .        .      i      " 

Boy,  or  man,  who  brings  bag- 
gage from   room      .        .  50  centimes 


TIPS  AND  TIPPING  169 

Man  who  loads  baggage  on 

bus 50  centimes 

Bus   driver   who   helps   with 

baggage   at  station    .        .      i   franc 

Making   quite    a    respectable 

total  of      .        .        .        .5  francs 

This  may  virtually  amount  to  but  half  your  origi- 
nal bill,  and  is  of  course  far  too  great  a  proportion. 
It  is  easy  to  see  that  the  ten  per  cent  plan  is  out  of 
business  here.  Try  and  distribute  a  single  franc, 
taking  an  average  bill  of  ten  francs  as  a  basis,  among 
six  persons  and  see  what  would  happen.  Of  course 
for  two  this  might  well  be  cut  down  to  three  francs, 
or  perhaps  even  two  francs,  fifty  centimes  each  when 
the  proportions  come  a  little  nearer  what  they  ought 
really  to  be,  but  even  then  they  are  in  the  neighbour- 
hood of  the  twenty-five  per  cent  mark.  To  all  in- 
tents and  purposes  this  is  what  happens  in  any  French, 
Swiss  or  Italian  hotel  which  lives  exclusively  off  a 
tourist  clientele.  The  axiom  that  the  slower  one 
travels  the  cheaper  it  becomes,  applies  as  well  to 
tipping.  For  a  stay  of  several  days,  where  one  gives 
five  lire  for  oneself  alone,  seven  or  seven  and  a  half 
would  cover  it  for  two,  and  for  a  week's  sojourn,  ten 
lire  would  add  as  much  to  the  hotel  servant's  seeming 
happiness  as  a  larger  sum.  Where  travellers  make 
one-night  stands  the  tippee  scores. 

The  scale  ascends  rapidly  to  the  "  grand  "  and  the 
"  palace  "  hotels.  It  is  here  that  the  brigand  of  old 
has  risen  to  the  new  conditions  and  disguised  himself 


I70      THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

under  a  gold-buttoned  and  gold-laced  uniform  and 
becomes  a  minion  of  a  great  tourist  caravansary. 
Here  he  finds  business  quite  as  profitable  and  less 
dangerous,  and  here,  too,  vanishes  the  last  vestige 
of  the  old-time  relation  between  the  giver  and  re- 
ceiver, the  guest  and  the  servant. 

Here  the  gold-braided  brigade  is  everlastingly  at 
one's  heels,  giving  one  the  feeling  of  being  in  an 
asylum  looked  after  by  an  only  too  attentive  staff 


HALL    PORTER       HE.AD  WAITER. 


WAITER 


CHArr\BE.RfAAlCi 


of  care-takers.  Doors  fly  open  before  one  and  chairs 
fly  from  under,  one  is  bowed  through  corridors  and 
up  staircases  as  only  were  the  kings  of  old.  Then 
monarchs  made  their  subjects  pay  for  the  privilege, 
but  to-day  it  is  the  subject  who  wins.  All  these 
menials  speak  the  American  language,  at  least  to 
the  extent  of  '*  good-morning,''  for  they  know  how 
the  American  loves  the  sound  of  his  native  tongue, 
even  though  doled  out  in  limited  quantities. 

As  you  walk  down  the  line  of  expectant  mortals  on 


TIPS  AND  TIPPING 


171 


the  day  of  departure  and  dispense  commercial  solace, 
figuring  up  value  given  and  received,  you  see  why 
the  ten  per  cent  plan  does  not  always  work. 

At  many  a  *'  palace "  hotel,  even,  one  can  live 
for  twenty  or  twenty-five  francs  a  day,  with  another 
ten  francs  to  cover  wine  and  mineral  waters  and  other 
incidentals.  This  works  out  six  to  seven  dollars  a  day 
and  may  be  considered  good  value  for  the  money 
paid.     These  tips  at  these  great  tourist  hotels,  for 


The  TIPPING 
m,  LINE 


VALET  de  CH/qmBRE      PORTER 


"BOOTS"        "BUTTONS        EtC 


thirty-six  hours,  would  work  out  something  as  fol- 
lows, provided  one  could  not  resist  the  "  come  on  '* 
look  in  the  hungry  eyes  of  the  staff,  otherwise  they 
might  be  somewhat  discounted. 


Door  porter    .... 

Maitre  d'hotel 

Sommelier  (waiter  who  serves 

your  cafe-au-lait) 
Bath  attendant 


2  francs 


172      THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

Femme-de-Chambre       .        .      2  francs 
Porter  who   brings   up   your 

bags 50  centimes 

Porter  who  brings  them  down  50        " 

Porter  who  brings  up  trunks  i  " 
Porter  who  brings  them  down  i  ** 
Nondescript    individual    who 

blackens  your  boots  .        .  50        " 

Porter  who  assists  you  with 

luggage  at  station      .        .      i       " 


12  francs  50  centimes 


And  this  again  is  nearer  thirty-three  and  one-third 
per  cent  of  the  bill  than  ten  per  cent,  which  latter 
proportion,  three  francs,  fifty  centimes,  would  not  go 
far  among  the  expectant  horde.  One  solution  would 
be  to  stay  on  a  while  and  run  up  your  bill  to  ten  or 
fifteen  times  its  original  amount,  when  again  the  ten 
per  cent  basis  would  overpay  these  grafters.  Like 
the  "  systems  '*  at  Monte  Carlo's  Casino,  no  scheme 
of  tipping  of  the  preconceived  order  can  be  made  to 
work  both  ways — the  zero  of  uncertainty  is  always 
against  the  player. 

No  automobile  tips  have  been  included  in  the 
above  schedule.  The  question  may  be  asked:  has 
the  automobile  increased  the  size  of  the  tip?  It  has 
introduced  an  entirely  new  conglomeration  of  satel- 
lites into  the  planetary  sphere  of  servantdom.  What, 
then,  are  their  demands?  In  the  small  foreign 
hotel  the  stable  boy,  hostler  or  garqon  d*ecurie  has 


TIPS  AND  TIPPING  173 

the  big  touring  car  under  his  charge  instead  of  the 
chaises'de^poste  and  the  berlins-de-voyage  of  other 
days.  He  runs  around  the  corner  to  the  grocer's 
for  gasolene,  or  oil,  fills  up  the  water  tank,  and  will 
lend  a  useful  and  willing  hand  wherever  wanted. 
This  service  may  usually  be  considered  worth  a  franc, 
but  can  often  be  had,  with  an  acceptant  smile  thrown 
In,  for  half  that  sum. 

In  a  big  hotel  garage,  like  that  of  the  Hotel 
Univers  at  Tours,  in  the  Chateaux  country,  the  man 
who  fills  up  your  gasolene  tank  can  readily  absorb  a 
franc  without  a  quaver,  while  the  young  fellow  who 
ostentatiously  attempts  to  rub  the  varnish  off  your 
mud-guard  or  the  lustre  off  your  leather  cushions  will 
eye  you  expectantly  for  fifty  centimes  at  least.  If 
your  chauffeur  hands  out  this  thirty  sous  himself,  it 
will  likely  be  Increased  one  hundred  per  cent  before 
you  pay  the  bill.  This  is  not  much,  according  to 
the  American  scale,  for  often  enough  the  lodging  for 
your  automobile  has  been  thrown  in  free,  but  all  the 
same,  on  a  hundred  days'  tour,  it  is  a  round  fifty 
dollars  thrown  away  for  service  that  ought  to  be 
included  in  the  price  one  pays. 

One  gallant  American,  on  his  first  trip  abroad, 
with  a  party  of  ladies,  decided  that  he  would  not 
annoy  or  inflict  them  with  the  small  matter  of  tips. 
He  began  by  paying  them  out  of  his  own  pocket, 
but  after  a  week  or  two  of  these  heart-breaking  dis- 
bursements he  finally  suggested  to  the  rest  of  the 
party  that  a  common  fund  be  opened  for  such  dis- 
bursements, of  which  he  was  to  be  the  cashier.     And 


174      THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

this,  by  the  way,  is  not  a  bad  method  of  collectively 
handling  the  tip  question  by  all  who  travel  in  droves. 

Take  heed  from  the  foreigner,  especially  the  Ger- 
man, and  get  what  hints  you  can.  The  Teuton,  at 
least,  is  not  always  seen  with  his  hands  in  his  pockets 
about  to  bring  forth  a  glitter  of  small  coin,  and  yet 
he  fares  as  well  as  the  stranger  from  over-seas, 
whether  from  over  the  Channel  or  across  the  Atlantic. 

Two  sous  will  accomplish  for  the  German  on  the 
Riviera  what  ten  will  do  for  most  of  the  rest  of  us, 
and  there  will  be  no  noticeable  difference  in  the 
quality  of  the  service.  Well  he  knows  the  secret! 
It  comes  from  familiarity  with  the  situation.  The 
solution  of  the  problem  is  to  go  often  enough.  The 
"  personally  conducted  "  tour  that  can  guarantee  a 
tipless  itinerary  of  Europe  has  a  financial  future 
ahead  of  it. 

If  the  automobile  is  responsible  for  the  rise  in 
the  scale  of  tips,  to  what  heights  will  they  not  soar 
when  the  aeroplane  becomes  the  preferred  mode  of 
conveyance.  Then  there  will  be  a  man  to  push  you 
out  of  a  hangar  and  give  you  a  shove  off,  or  there 
will  be  a  whole  army  holding  on  to  the  guy-ropes 
of  your  dirigible,  and  all  these  will  have  to  be  paid. 
There  is  no  limit  to  the  possibilities  of  the  profession 
which  lives  off  of  tips. 

One  thing  that  will  help  is  to  keep  yourself  sup- 
plied with  small  coin ;  then  a  mere  ripple  made  in  the 
reverse  direction  will  sometimes  keep  down  the  in- 
coming wave. 

The  English  started  this  abominable  custom  on 


TIPS  AND  TIPPING  175 

the  Continent  on  the  same  lines  as  they  had  run 
things  in  their  own  country,  but  the  American  came 
after  and  noisily,  recklessly  and  lavishly  cast  them 
into  the  shade. 

Anglo-Saxons  tip,  it  must  be  confessed,  to  show 
the  foreigner  they  at  least  think  that  they  are  of 
a  superior  race.  This  is  how  it  looks  to  the  Con- 
tinental European,  though  more  often  it  is  really 
because  they  are  on  a  holiday  jaunt  and,  like  all 
holiday-makers  who  are  fully  in  the  spirit  of  the 
thing,  they  want  everybody  around  them  to  partici- 
pate in  their  good  humour,  so  it  is  they  scatter 
a  golden  shower,  unmindful  that  they  are  sowing 
a  crop  of  dragon's  teeth  which  will  ultimately  spring 
up  an  armed  force  to  demand  by  right  what  was 
originally  given  by  favour. 


f^^EUROPEAN  ^   Ea   ca 
El    SHOPPING     TOURIi 


Caisse  [ 


\.^^ 


THE  HUNDRED-DOLLAR  LIMIT 
DENATIONALISATION  OF  FOREIGN  GOODS 
THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  RAISES  PRICES 
INITIATING      EUROPE      TO 


"  SHOPPING  " 


"  BUYING  '* 


VERSUS 


ENGLISH  AND   FRENCH   CLERKS 

POLICY  OF  SOME  LONDON  SHOPS 

LONDON  TAILOR-MADE 

HARRIS  TWEEDS  AND  IRISH  HOMESPUNS 

LACES  AND   LINENS  OF  THE   EMERALD  ISLE 

SCOTTISH  PLAIDS  FOR  ANY  CLAN 

PARIS  A  CITY  OF  SMALL  SHOPS 

WHERE  THE  FRENCHWOMAN  SCORES 

WOMAN  SHOPKEEPERS  OF  PARIS 

PARIS  ARTIST-MILLINERS 

DEPARTMENT  STORES  OF  PARIS 

"  BON  MARCHE  " 

PROFESSIONAL  SHOPPERS 

STAFF  OF  A  GREAT  PARIS  DEPARTMENT  STORE 

BRUSSELS  LACE 

DIAMONDS  OF  AMSTERDAM  AND  THE  RUE  DE  LA  PAIX 

DUTCH  SILVER 

SWISS  EMBROIDERY 

BERLIN'S  PALATIAL  DEPARTMENT  STORES 


VII 

THE  EUROPEAN  SHOPPING  TOUR 

THE  BRITISH    ISLES 

A  SHOPPING  tour  of  Europe  to-day  might  be  defined 
as  a  stroll  through  that  portion  of  New  York  City 
which  lies  between  Twenty-third  and  Forty-second 
Streets,  where  most  of  the  luxuries,  and  not  a  little 
of  the  junk  of  foreign  manufacturers  is  to  be  found 
within  a  radius  of  one  square  mile. 

There  is  no  doubt  but  that  the  enterprise  of  the 
American  importer,  combined  with  the  stringent 
application  of  the  hundred-dollar  clause,  has  damp- 
ened the  craze  of  the  American  woman  for  shopping 
around  Europe.  At  last  even  the  most  unmethodical 
and  unbusinesslike  woman  has  been  broken  in  to 
filling  out  the  customs  declaration  with  a  fairly  cor- 
rect statement  of  her  purchases  abroad,  though  they 
are  apt  to  lose  their  charm  and  ofttimes  their  value 
under  the  cold,  impartial  scrutiny  of  the  government 
appraiser,  for  she  often  wonders,  when  she  repacks 
her  trunks  on  a  draughty  New  York  steamship  pier, 
if  the  pleasure  of  possession  was  worth  the  sum  of 
the  duty  paid. 

As  a  preface  to  a  shopping  chapter,  it  may  not 
be  amiss  to  reiterate  the  definition  of  the  hundred- 
dollar  limit.     It  must  be  composed  of  wearing  ap- 

179 


i8o      THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

parel,  or  articles  for  personal  use,  and  may  not  In- 
clude household  furnishings  or  anything  not  related 
to  the  immediate  wardrobe  and  toilet  of  the  Indi- 
vidual who  accompanies  them.  Having  got  this 
fact  firmly  grounded  In  one's  mind  It  only  remains 
to  remember  that  the  average  duties  levied  are  about 
thirty  per  cent,  while  perhaps  certain  articles  that 
most  attract  the  woman  shopper  pay  only  fifty  per 
cent.  This  represents  the  highest  handicap  duty. 
That  on  art  is  no  approach  compared  to  that  levied 
on  feminine  adornments,  such  as  feathers,  laces  and 
jewelry.  As  for  smuggling  by  the  amateur,  it  is 
as  dead  as  a  prehistoric  mastadon  encased  in  an 
arctic  Ice  drift.  From  a  professional  point  of  view 
it  is  quite  another  matter. 

The  charm  of  discovering  new  fields  in  which  to 
shop,  of  bargaining  In  the  rudiments  of  a  foreign 
language,  can  never  be  eradicated  by  any  law  or 
custom,  and  will  remain  one  of  the  pleasant  antici- 
pations of  that  episode  in  the  life  of  so  many  Amer- 
ican women  which  Is  becoming  almost  a  yearly  neces- 
sity— a  trip  abroad. 

But  this  picking  out  of  bargains  is  a  shattered 
dream  so  far  as  the  tourist's  rush  of  two  or  three 
months  about  Europe  is  concerned.  It  is  for  just 
her  class  that  the  European  shopkeeper  is  catering, 
knowing  that  she  has  not  the  time,  nor  opportunity, 
for  discriminating  in  values.  He  arranges  specious 
"bargains"  and  fixes  prices  on  a  scale  that  leaves 
him  a  wide  margin  from  which  to  drop  and  still 
make  a  fat  profit. 


THE  EUROPEAN  SHOPPING  TOUR      i8i 

Everywhere  the  manufacturers  and  merchants 
alike  are  making  their  output  conform  to  the  taste  and 
demand  of  the  best  class  of  buyers — the  American 
women.  The  result  is  that  the  distinctly  foreign 
article  is  looking  less  like  a  novelty  and  more  reminis- 
cent of  what  she  sees  at  home.  Thus  arises  a  vague 
discontent  on  the  part  of  the  shopper  who  does  not 
realise  that  she  is  spoiling  the  genuineness  of  the 
European  shopping  ground,  and  incidentally  her  own 
pleasure,  in  insisting  upon  American  standards — 
which  the  shopkeeper  takes  to  mean  American  prices 
as  well.  This  dazzle  of  the  dollars  is  blinding  him 
not  a  little  in  his  summing  up  of  the  foreign  woman. 
Souvenir  buying,  too,  is  often  carried  on  injudiciously. 
A  riff-raff  of  plunder  collected  from  all  corners  of 
Europe,  none  of  it  in  its  place  of  origin,  is  apt  to 
lose  considerably  in  importance  and  value  when  these 
reconsidered  trifles  are  opened  up  at  home.  It  may 
be  permissible  enough  to  buy  a  Swiss  watch  in 
Geneva — if  one  really  wants  one — but  coral  and  tor- 
toise shell,  remember,  are  not  specialties  of  Paris  any 
more  than  they  are  of  Vienna,  nor  are  all  so-called 
Swiss  hand-embroideries  the  real  thing. 

Shopping  is  quite  a  personal  affair,  and  small 
courtesies,  by  which  doing  business  is  made  easier, 
are  expected.  Particularly  is  this  so  if  one  falls  in 
with  the  Continental  habit  of  bowing  on  entering  or 
leaving  the  small  shop,  doubly  so  in  the  Latin  coun- 
tries. It  is  often  the  lack  of  these  little  observations 
of  courtesy  that  so  handicap  the  stranger  in  dealing 
with  the  '*  natives  "  of  a  foreign  land. 


i82      THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

The  shopkeeper  abroad  has  been  forced  to  recog- 
nise the  distinction  that  the  American  woman  makes 
between  *'  shopping  ''  and  "  buying."  It  went  hardly 
against  his  prejudices  and  traditions  to  spread  out 
a  counter  full  of  goods  without  making  a  sale,  and 
he  fought  against  the  innovation,  but  too  much  money 
was  involved,  and  to  the  credit  of  the  American 
woman  belongs  the  victory  of  being  able  to  walk 
about  the  big  department  stores  of  Paris  and  Berlin, 
without  being  shadowed  by  an  insistent  clerk,  with 


rT 


the  same  freedom  as  at  Macy's,  Wanamaker's  or 
Marshall  Field's. 

This  is  not  the  case  in  England.  The  mind  of 
the  English  clerk  is  still  set  in  motion  by  old-fashioned 
clock  work.  He  is  obliging  enough  in  pulling  down 
goods  for  inspection,  and  *'  thanks  you  "  every  time 
you  ask  him  a  question  or  answers  one  himself,  but 
he  does  not  thank  you  if  you  don't  buy;  and  when 
you  understand  the  system  you  don't  wonder  at  his 
insistence,  even  forgive  it.  Each  time  a  customer 
gets  away  without  his  making  a  sale  he  is  reprimanded 
by  the  "  shop-walker,"  who  puts  a  black  mark  against 


THE  EUROPEAN  SHOPPING  TOUR      183 

his  name.  Let  him  get  too  many  of  the  damning 
marks  and  he  loses  his  job,  and  losing  a  job  in  Eng- 
land often  means  not  getting  another.  This  is  still 
the  policy  in  many  London  shops. 

The  demeanour  of  the  French  shop  clerk  is  almost 
a  relief  by  contrast.  He  demands  that  you  state 
explicitly  just  what  you  want  before  he  will  take 
down  one  thing,  nor  does  he  assume  the  responsibil- 
ity of  clarifying  the  customer's  mind  by  suggestions. 
It  may  be  good  training  for  the  shopper,  but  makes 
for  difficulties,  especially  as  the  habit  of  featuring 
new  goods  where  they  can  be  seen  does  not  always 
hold. 

The  small  shopkeeper  throughout  Europe  still  re- 
sents, however,  the  nosing  around  of  the  inquiring 
American  woman  with  no  intention  of  buying.  The 
polite  manner  soon  freezes  up  and  the  innocent 
offender  Is  followed  by  uncomplimentary  mutter- 
ings  and  impertinent  tosses  of  the  head  when  she 
leaves. 

On  a  par  with  this  is  the  custom  of  having  the 
woman  clerks  "  live  in,"  a  relic  of  the  old  apprentice 
system  when  the  articled  clerk  lived  under  his  mas- 
ter's roof  as  one  of  the  family,  but  it  assumes  a  dif- 
ferent aspect  when  it  comes  to  housing  In  the  attic 
dormitory  of  a  great  shop.  This  is  a  dreary  ex- 
istence for  one  who  has  toiled  all  day  to  the  ultimate 
Benefit  of  the  masters,  who  make  a  profit  in  addition 
on  meagre  rooms  and  meals.  The  policy  that  gov- 
erns sales  makes  for  another  exasperating  habit  of 
the  English  clerk,  who,  when  you  seek  to  buy  a 


i84      THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

yard  of  ribbon,  insists  that  you  buy  a  coal-scuttle  as 
well,  and  reels  glibly  off  his  tongue  a  list  of  the 
entire  stock  in  hope  that  it  may  suggest  something 
to  your  mind.  The  English  rather  like  this  habit 
of  having  their  minds  made  up  for  them;  it  saves 
them  the  trouble  of  making  out  a  shopping  list. 

"  No  lady  would  think  of  buying  a  ready-made 
dress,"  the  London  tailor  used  to  say,  with  a  shocked 
accent  on  the  lady,  but  that  has  changed  now.  There 
is  a  high-class  trade  in  ready-made  suits,  largely  made 
by  the  rush  of  Americans  to  London  at  certain  sea- 
sons. Formerly,  the  Englishwoman  would  have 
considered  herself  on  a  par  with  the  servant  girl 
(and  not  so  long  ago,  either)  by  wearing  a  ready- 
made  gown,  but  since  it  is  now  being  confectioned 
on  such  good  lines  and  sold  at  such  high  prices 
it  pleases  the  most  fastidious. 

If  the  London  tailor  is  even  given  the  slightest 
time  allowance,  however,  he  will  rise  to  an  astonish- 
ing rate  of  speed  and  turn  out  a  suit  "  to  measure," 
as  they  say.  It  is  not  always  of  the  fastidious  finish 
demanded  by  the  American,  but  the  price  will  be  a 
third  cheaper  than  at  home  and  made  of  a  cloth  that 
for  a  tailor-made  cannot  be  duplicated.  Harris 
tweeds,  which  were  hand  woven  by  the  crofter  in  his 
''  lone  shieling  in  that  misty  isle/^  around  the  peat 
fire,  used  to  have  this  same  peaty  smell  for  a  trade- 
mark. Now  the  manufacturers  have  been  clever 
enough  to  imiiate  the  smell  along  with  the  cloth. 
The  tweeds  and  the  soft-coloured  Irish  homespuns 
from  the  handlooms  of  the  Emerald  Isle,  are  the 


THE  EUROPEAN  SHOPPING  TOUR      185 

two  fabrics  of  which  the  British  isles  may  well  be 
proud. 

In  spite  of  the  obsequiousness  of  the  London  shop- 
keeper and  seeming  desire  to  accommodate,  one  will 
be  asked  not  to  come  for  a  fitting  between  four  and 
five  as  "  our  fitter,  Mr.  Jenkins,  will  be  out  for  his 
tea."  This  is  a  dead  hour  for  business  in  England; 
go  through  the  busiest  offices,  and  desks  will  be  seen 
littered  over  with  plum  cake  and  teacups;  or  get 
into  a  private  office  by  mistake,  and  a  party  of  clerks 
will  be  gathered  cosily  around  a  tea-table.  The  late 
hour  of  closing — seven  to  eight  o'clock — is  responsi- 
ble in  a  measure  for  this. 

Prices  in  the  best  London  shops  are  in  guineas,  the 
pound  plus  a  shilling.  The  coin  does  not  exist,  but 
the  extra  shilling  makes  a  "  gentleman's  "  price,  es- 
pecially designed  and  kept  alive  for  the  aristocracy 
and  Americans.  One  advantage  for  the  latter  is 
that  it  is  nearer  the  value  of  five  dollars  than  the 
plebeian  pound. 

Irish  linen,  contrary  to  what  is  usually  the  case, 
can  really  be  bought  often  to  better  advantage  in  its 
home  town,  Belfast,  than  anywhere  else,  and  it's 
worth  while  taking  what  is  always  an  uncomfortable 
voyage  across  the  Irish  Channel  if  only  to  lay  in  one's 
stock  of  linen  and  Irish  laces  with  the  assistance  of 
the  pleasant  Irish  salesmen,  full  of  Blarney,  even 
though  he  is  a  long  ways  away  from  the  Blarney- 
stone.  It  is  preferable  to  shopping  for  the  same  thing 
in  London  with  the  cold,  mechanical  London  clerk 
reeling  off  "  thank  yous  "  as  fast  as  he  does  the  lace. 


i86      THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

In  this  case  one  can  visit  the  cottages  about  Dublin, 
for  much  of  the  lace  is  still  made  by  the  cottagers 
at  home,  who  are  always  delighted  to  see  any  Amer- 
icans, whom  they  really  regard  more  as  blood  rela- 
tions than  their  cousins  across  the  Channel.  Of 
course  it  is  amusing  to  buy  some  lace  as  a  souvenir 
from  a  cottager,  but,  like  everything  else,  it  is  well 
to  deal  with  the  big  establishments.  Certain  pat- 
terns will  be  made  specially  for  the  buyer,  and  mono- 
grams can  always  be  furnished  on  short  notice,  and 
at  wonderfully  reasonable  rates.  Of  course  there 
are  shops  in  London  devoted  to  the  Irish  industries 
that  do  an  enormous  business,  largely  with  the 
Americans,  but  it  is  rather  curious  to  the  outsider, 
who  still  calls  the  British  Isles  England,  to  find  how 
much  jealousy  there  is  in  England  regarding  the 
Irish  products.  The  beautiful  Irish  silk  poplins  are 
kept  in  stock  by  all  the  big  London  houses  because 
they  have  to,  but  they  really  often  require  digging 
out,  and  persistence,  in  order  to  convince  the  clerk 
that  you  will  have  the  real  Irish  poplin,  not  any 
corded  silk  of  doubtful  make.  You  will  sometimes 
even  be  told  that  they  will  be  obliged  to  send  to 
Ireland  for  it,  unless  you  have  been  forewarned,  and 
can  produce  a  sample  of  the  very  thing  you  want 
that  had  come  from  this  very  shop.  No  wonder 
the  Irish  want  Home  Rule ! 

Only  sentiment  can  beautify  the  Scotch  plaid,  but 
one  can  always  find  a  plaid  to  suit's  one's  clan,  and 
a  clan  to  suit  one's  taste,  if  they  only  look  for  it 
across  the  border.     Your  Scotch  friend  will  tell  you 


THE  EUROPEAN  SHOPPING  TOUR      187 

that  nobody  but  Americans  shop  on  Princes  Street; 
the  canny  Scot  knows  where  to  find  prices  less  ele- 
vated. If  you  want  a  plaid, — and  there  is  nothing 
better  for  the  steamer  rug  after  all, — it  is  best  to 
deal  directly  with  the  manufacturer,  who  gets  out 
an  excellent  catalogue  showing  the  plaids  of  all  the 
clans  in  colour.  It  is  possible  in  this  way  to  make  a 
choice  and  have  your  purchase  sent  on  to  meet  you 
at  any  point  if  you  do  not  wish  to  investigate  the 
matter  further  yourself. 

FRANCE 

In  spite  of  its  grands  magaziits,  and  they  are 
growing  grander  and  more  numerous  every  day, 
Paris  is  a  city  of  small  shops.  The  French  are  per- 
sonal and  distinctive  in  all  their  business  relations, 
and  this  is  probably  the  reason  why  they  still  cling 
to  the  small  shop  and  the  small  hotel.  The  shop- 
keeper wants  to  do  just  enough  business  and  keep 
at  it  long  enough  to  be  able  to  retire  as  a  rentier 
before  he  arrives  at  too  advanced  an  age,  and  live  in 
a  tiny  suburban  villa  not  too  far  away  from  Paris. 
Nothing  could  be  more  distasteful  to  him  than  to 
be  obliged  to  increase  his  business  at  the  expense  of 
more  trouble  and  work. 

The  French  shopper  wants  to  deal  where  things 
are  not  so  rushed  but  that  she  can  talk  confidentially 
over  her  prospective  purchases,  take  her  time  and 
thus  be  able  to  feel  that  she  has  done  a  little  suc- 
cessful bargaining. 


i88      THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

Ask  the  Frenchwoman  about  the  "  Bon  Marche  " 
and  the  other  big  Paris  shops  that  the  American 
tourists  so  dearly  love,  under  the  impression  that 
they  are  getting  things  "  oh,  so  cheap!  '*  and  she  will 
say  how  dear  they  are,  because  she  has  some  little 
shop  around  the  corner  at  which  she  can  get  real 
bargains.  But  the  stranger  cannot  get  the  same 
prices  that  she  does.  That  is  why  the  big  Paris 
department  stores — with  their  fixed  prices — are  much 
safer  and  more  satisfactory  shopping  ground  for  the 
stranger.  Prices  in  the  small  shop,  not  only  of  Paris 
but  of  all  Europe,  are  as  variable  as  the  barometer, 
on  which  the  appearance  of  the  American  buyer  acts 
like  an  area  of  high  pressure. 

The  small  shop  that  specialises  is  the  feature  of 
Paris  shopping.  One  goes  to  a  trunk  shop  to  buy  a 
trunk,  a  corset  shop  for  corsets,  a  glove  place  for 
gloves  or  a  shop  that  deals  entirely  in  lingerie,  where 
any  special  embroidery  will  be  done  the  customer 
may  desire. 

These  are  the  places  where  real  bargains  can  be 
got,  but  they  are  found  only  on  the  side  streets,  in 
unpretentious  courts,  sometimes  up  a  flight  of  stairs 
— not  on  the  grand  boulevards.  '^  Ma  cherie,  you 
are  crazy  to  pay  boulevard  prices,"  says  your  French 
friend;  "  the  same  thing  costs  double  there."  But  a 
knowledge  of  French  and  the  Frenchwoman  is  neces- 
sary to  shop  to  advantage  in  the  small  shop  all  the 
same. 

It  is  the  Frenchwoman  who  is  the  small  Paris 
shopkeeper.     What  genius  the  nation  has  for  selling, 


THE  EUROPEAN  SHOPPING  TOUR      189 

which  is  not  much  (the  French  are  not  by  instinct 
commercial),  centres  in  the  women.  The  Parisian 
shopkeeper,  neatly  dressed,  not  a  hair  of  her  coiffure 
out  of  place,  sits  behind  the  counter,  knitting  lace 
or  doing  fancy  work.  Beside  her,  on  the  counter  as 
likely,  sleeps  a  fluffy  cat — d,  peaceful  picture.  Ma- 
dame is  polite,  but  not  too  urbane;  she  has  none  of 
the  servility  of  the  small  British  shopkeeper.  A  cal- 
culating gleam  comes  into  her  eyes  at  one's  first  words 
of  French — no  matter  how  good.  There  will  prob- 
ably be  the  sign,  "  English  spoken,"  outside,  but  this 
means  nothing  very  often  but  the  ability  to  say 
"  good-morning  "  and  "  good-bye,"  and  is  only  put  on 
as  a  bait.  Madame  prefers  that  her  customer  should 
be  hampered  by  language  rather  than  herself.  It  is 
not  to  the  real  advantage  of  the  European  shop- 
keeper to  know  how  to  speak  English,  though  they 
often  understand  a  good  deal,  which  is  well  for  cus- 
tomers to  remember  when  discussing  pros  and  cons 
among  themselves.  In  dealing  with  madame  one 
must  have  a  fairly  good  knowledge  of  values  to  hold 
up  one's  end  in  the  encounter  of  wits. 

The  most  satisfactory  of  the  small  shops  is  that 
of  the  modiste,  and  one  that  it  is  almost  a  necessity 
for  the  stranger  shopper  to  patronise,  as  the  millinery 
departments  of  the  department  shops  are  one  of  their 
least  satisfactory  features.  Just  a  plain  milliner  may 
exist  anywhere,  but  the  modiste  is  a  product  of  Paris. 
She  is  not  merely  a  craftswoman;  she  is  an  artist, 
with  an  artist's  understanding  of  colour  and  of  form. 
A  hat  in  her  hands  is  not  a  thing  of  measurements 


I90      THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

and  calculation,  but  an  inspiration,  born  of  the  brains 
that  rest  in  her  fingers'  ends. 

Hers  is  the  most  typical  of  those  "  delightful  little 
shops  "  to  be  found  at  their  best  not  too  far  away  from 
the  Rue  Royale.  Quite  often  she  has  gone  into  the 
business  as  a  *'  career  "  impelled,  as  is  the  artist,  by 
the  call  of  genius.  Sometimes  she  may  come  of  an 
aristocratic  family,  who  hides  her  origin  under  the 
patronymic  of  "  Alexandrine,"  or  *'  Pauline,"  or 
"  Victorine,"  or  some  one  of  those  names  that  only 
suggests  the  Parisian  modiste. 

Often  enough  in  the  least  commercial  neighbour- 
hoods the  more  modest  shops  are  up  two  or  three 
flights  of  stairs,  and  no  elevators  either.  But  often 
as  good  results  come  out  of  these  upper  rooms  with 
no  show  windows  to  advertise  as  in  the  bigger  es- 
tablishment on  the  rez-de-chaussee  with  the  plate- 
glass  windows,  though  it  is  true  that  what  is  to  be 
seen  in  the  windows  is  no  criterion  of  what  may 
come  out  of  a  French  shop. 

To  use  a  British  commercial  expression,  the  French 
do  not  "  put  their  goods  in  the  front  window."  No 
French  shop,  be  it  great  or  small,  will  ever  show  its 
latest  modes  or  most  exclusive  models  in  the  win- 
dow; not  even  for  the  sake  of  attracting  custom  will 
the  French  modiste  set  out  her  choicest  ideas  where 
they  may  be  copied.  Americans  often  criticise  the 
styles  that  they  see  in  their  survey  of  shop  windows, 
and  are  heard  to  declare  that  they  had  seen  the  new- 
est thing  before  they  left  home,  but  they  ignore  the 
fact  that  madame,  who  presides  over  the  destinies 


•  •    ••• :  •.:  •;  :.••• 


When  the  Native  Lady  Goes  Shopping 
in   North  Africa 


THE  EUROPEAN  SHOPPING  TOUR       191 

of  the  shop,  must  have  full  confidence  that  you  are 
really  a  customer  before  she  will  bring  out  her  best. 
She  will  never  learn  the  open-minded  American  pol- 
icy of  baiting  her  shop  windows  with  her  best.  In 
England  it  is  exactly  the  contrary;  the  window  often 
contains  the  shop's  whole  stock,  and  one  who  is  curi- 
ous may  enter  and  find  no  greater  variety  inside.  In 
general,  it  is  this  lack  of  a  large  stock  which  is  a 
puzzling  phase  of  the  shopping  question  abroad  for 
the  American. 

The  Parisian  shopkeeper,  when  she  is  sure  of  her 
customer,  when  she  finds  that  she  is  not  just  pricing 
things,  can  be  the  most  charming  of  sales  persons. 
She  has  the  art  of  enveloping  her  customer  with  a 
personal  interest  that  gives  such  a  charm  to  the  little 
individual  shops  of  Paris.  No  one  can  combine  tact, 
winning  ways  and  business  method  so  well  as  the 
vraie  Parisienne — ^when  she  wishes. 

If  you  want  to  find  an  American  in  Paris  look  for 
her,  and  for  him  too,  in  the  "  Bon  Marche,"  for  the 
American  man  confesses  to  the  usefulness  of  this 
universal  provider.  To  this  internationally  known 
establishment  is  due  the  credit  of  having  introduced 
the  department  store  and  the  fixed  price  into  Euro- 
pean commerce,  thus  simplifying  shopping  abroad  for 
the  English-speaking  person.  Modelling  after  came 
"  The  Grand  Magazin  du  Louvre,"  that  draws  the 
American  as  much  as  the  palace  itself;  the  "  Prin- 
temps,"  the  "  Trois  Quartiers,"  and  the  "  Galleries 
Lafayette  "  came  after,  and  in  all  of  them  the  cheer- 


192       THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

ful  American  voice  can  be  heard  almost  as  much  as 
the  French  itself. 

The  policy  of  the  grand  magazin  towards  Its 
foreign  clientele  Is  a  liberal  one.  Goods  are  sent  on 
approval  in  any  quantity,  and  left  for  a  decision  for 
so  remarkable  a  length  of  time  that  It  astonishes  the 
buyer  from  overseas,  who  is  also  surprised  that  the 
boy  who  brings  them  around  wants  a  tip  for  having 
done  so. 

One  can  call  for  an  English-speaking  clerk,  and 
make  all  purchases  under  his  guidance.  "  There  are 
nearly  seventy  of  us  who  speak  English,"  he  will  tell 
you  at  the  "  Bon  Marche,"  '*  and  perhaps  a  hundred 
and  fifty  who  understand  It  to  some  extent."  For 
this  reason  alone  one  will  find  It  easy  enough  to 
shop  here  without  any  knowledge  of  the  Gallic 
tongue.  Everything  is  plainly  tagged  with  the  price, 
but  the  clerk-guide  will  save  time.  The  geography 
of  these  shops  Is  not  always  the  same,  as  they  have 
a  confusing  way  of  shifting  the  position  of  goods. 
To  any  one  accustomed  to  the  broad  spaces  and  sys- 
tematic arrangements  of  the  American  store,  these 
big  Paris  magazines  are  crowded  and  uncomfortable 
to  shop  In.  Confusion  seems  to  reign  on  all  sides. 
One  has  to  follow  the  clerk  with  one*s  purchase  up 
to  the  caisse,  pay  for  It  there  and  wait  until  it  Is 
wrapped  up,  which  means,  sometimes,  standing  in 
line,  and  spending  more  time  than  was  spent  on  the 
actual  buying.  Two  or  three  dozen  excited  women 
gathered  about  a  desk,  trying  to  identify  packages 


THE  EUROPEAN  SHOPPING  TOUR      193 

and  make  change,  has  its  parallel  only  in  a  bargain 
sale  at  home. 

The  "  Bon  Marche  "  has  the  repute  of  being  what 
its  name  advertises — the  best  bargains  and  cheapest 
prices  for  the  quality.  The  "  Louvre  "  is  more  ex- 
pensive and  perhaps  carries  a  better  grade  of  stock, 
but  has  not  the  variety  of  the  "  Bon  Marche."  The 
"  Galleries  Lafayette  "  have  a  reputation  for  lingerie, 
white  goods  and  silks,  while  the  **  Printemps  "  is  on 
much  the  same  order  as  the  ''  Bon  Marche,"  with 
the  "  Samarataine  "  a  trifle  lower  down  the  scale. 

There  is  a  class  of  women  making  a  business  of 
hanging  around  these  shops  and  coming  to  the  assist- 
ance of  the  stranger  when  mired  in  the  intricacies  of 
a  foreign  language.  Their  motives  are  usually  of  a 
frankly  obvious  commercial  aspect,  and  one  wonders 
that  the  custom  is  allowed  to  exist.  The  American's 
reputation  for  free-spending  has  developed  all  kinds 
of  Parisian  parasites. 

The  professional  shopper  is  sometimes  useful  on 
occasions,  particularly  in  Paris,  but  the  pleasure  of 
shopping,  as  in  many  other  things,  often  lies  as  much 
in  what  one  discovers  for  themselves  as  in  the  achieve- 
ment of  possession.  One  class  of  Paris  professionals 
can  be  made  very  useful.  Almost  any  of  the  large 
shops  will  send  a  professional  packer  to  fill  one's 
trunk,  with  the  disorder  which  usually  accompanies 
a  more  or  less  prolonged  hotel  stay.  Prices  for  this 
service  are  reasonable  enough,  but  the  genuine  travel- 
ler should  learn  the  art  for  herself. 

A  curious  feature  of  the  foreign  shops  is  the  side- 


194       THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

walk  display  of  their  cheaper  classes  of  goods,  where 
sales  are  made  by  employees,  who  stand  for  ten 
or  twelve  hours  a  day  in  all  weathers  at  these  side- 
walk counters.  They  are  among  the  minor  em- 
ployees, and  get  not  over  forty  or  fifty  francs  a 
month.  As  they  rise  to  the  important  inside  depart- 
ments their  ardour  and  aptitude  is  spurred  on  by  a 
commission  of  one  to  three  per  cent,  in  addition  to  a 
salary  of  fifty  or  sixty  francs,  which  brings  their 
wages  up  to  a  hundred  and  fifty  or  two  hundred 
francs  a  month,  besides  which  they  are  lodged  and 
fed  if  they  have  no  home  in  the  city.  All  this  varies 
somewhat  in  the  different  establishments,  but  a  capa- 
ble sales  persons  should  receive  about  fifty  dollars  a 
month. 

Employees  can  be  sent  away  on  twenty-four  hours' 
notice,  and  there  is  a  system  of  fines  that  are  likely 
to  eat  into  profits.  There  is  a  fine  for  sitting  down 
or  attempting  to,  though  there  is  nothing  but  the 
edge  of  a  drawer  that  could  be  utilised  (in  England 
seats  in  the  shops  have  been  made  compulsory),  a 
fine  for  not  putting  back  goods  on  the  shelves 
promptly  and  for  talking,  except  on  business.  It  is 
a  hard  schedule  for  a  day  that  begins  at  eight  and 
ends  at  eight,  with  a  half-hour  for  lunch  and  another 
for  dinner. 

Where  the  employees  *'  live  in,"  the  men  and 
women  are  entirely  separate  in  their  leisure  and 
work;  what  their  morals  may  be  when  they  take  their 
evenings  and  Sundays  out  might  be  summed  up  in 
many  cases  as  "  mysterious." 


THE  EUROPEAN  SHOPPING  TOUR      195 

The  small  shopkeeper  closes  his  shop  at  midday 
for  an  hour  or  two  for  the  noon  meal  and  a  siesta  or 
a  game  of  dominoes  with  a  friend  at  the  cafe.  This 
is  what  one  meets  with  all  over  Italy,  France  and 
Spain,  even  where  the  shops  live  just  on  the  business 
of  the  tourist.  At  most  some  one  can  be  roused 
from  a  family  dinner  in  the  back  to  come  to  wait 
on  an  exigent  customer,  but  usually  the  souvenir 
must  go  unbought  until  signor,  seiior  or  monsieur  gets 
back  on  the  job  again. 

HOLLAND   AND  BELGIUM 

Every  coachman  and  taxicab  driver  is  in  league  to 
see  that  you  don't  forget  your  lace  when  you  come 
to  Brussels.  No  matter  in  which  direction  you  drive, 
whether  to  a  restaurant  or  picture  gallery,  you  in- 
variably find  yourself  brought  up  before  one  of  the 
many  shops,  each  one  of  which  claims  to  be  the  oldest 
establishment  devoted  to  the  manufacture  of  the  fa- 
mous Rose  Point.  Indeed,  they  all  seem  to  carry 
an  equally  good  stock,  and  prices  are  seemingly 
reasonable.  It  has  been  said  that  the  only  two  real 
bargains  in  Europe  to-day  are  jewels  and  lace,  so 
much  has  the  average  European  shopkeeper  raised 
his  prices  to  meet  American  standards. 

All  of  Brussels  seems  to  have  lace  fever,  your 
hotel  porter,  your  boarding-house  keeper,  all  have  a 
favoured  house  where  they  declare  you  can  get  the 
best  bargain  in  laces.  It  is  very  interesting  to  visit 
one  of  the  manufactories,  for  the  lace  which  was 


'i96       THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

once  made  altogether  in  homes  is  now  manufactured 
on  businesslike  and  commercial  lines,  and  in  the 
process,  as  usually  happens,  artistic  value  has  been 
sacrificed  to  a  large  output.  It  is  not  then  astonish- 
ing that  there  is  so  much  cheap  Bnissels  lace  in  the 
shops  of  Brussels. 

There  is  the  Mechlin  lace,  too,  which  can  be 
bought  in  Brussels  quite  as  well  as  in  Mechlin  or 
Malines,  but  all  these  little  Flemish  cities  are  worth 
a  visit  on  their  own  account,  whether  you  are  hunting 
bargains  or  not. 

The  linen  of  Ghent,  too,  is  said  to  rival  that  of 
Dublin,  though  the  prices  are  slightly  higher,  but 
the  old  bleaching  grounds  still  around  these  old  Flem- 
ish cities  are  evidence  enough  that  the  bleaching  is 
done  on  the  correct  lines  and  not  by  artificial  means. 

No  one  ever  got  through  Belgium  yet  without  a 
desire  to  possess  a  supply  of  the  old  copper  and  brass 
utensils  still  in  common  use.  Enthusiastic  art  stu- 
dents are  conscienceless  enough  to  carry  off  their 
water  jars  in  their  trunks  when  they  leave  the  delight- 
ful little  village  where  they  have  spent  the  summer 
sketching,  but  as  most  of  these  charmingly  battered 
brass  jugs  can  be  bought  from  their  owners  for  some- 
thing less  than  a  dollar  one  could  afford  to  be  moral. 

Amsterdam  is  the  centre  of  the  diamond  industry, 
but  for  the  shopper  tourist  more  of  these  stones  are 
offered  in  the  Rue  de  la  Paix  than  in  this  quaint  old 
Dutch  capital.  There  is  nothing  that  makes  such  a 
stir  in  the  business  circles  of  Amsterdam  as  a  big 
sale  of  diamonds,  and  if  one  does  venture  on  buying 


THE  EUROPEAN  SHOPPING  TOUR      197 

a  fifty-thousand-dollar  necklace  of  these  precious 
stones,  it  is  well  to  understand  that  it  is  like  sending 
a  wireless  around  the  world.  One's  home  govern- 
ment, and  dealers  alike,  it  is  hinted,  keep  wonderfully 
correct  tabs  on  any  transaction  of  magnitude  in  Eu- 
rope where  jewels  are  involved. 

Silver  is  another  specialty  of  Amsterdam.  It  used 
to  be  old  Dutch  silver,  but  it  is  rather  difficult  to 
get  the  genuine  article  now,  even  at  any  price.  How- 
ever, such  excellent  and  ingenious  replicas  of  the  old 
Dutch  spoons,  ornamented  with  wind-mills  whose 
sails  turned  round,  and  plump  cows  and  quaint  Dutch 
figures  are  offered,  that  they  are  quite  as  well  worth 
buying  as  were  the  originals,  and  the  prices  will  be 
quite  stiff  enough  too. 

SWITZERLAND 

One  shops  in  Switzerland  for  embroideries,  for 
knit  underwear,  for  watches  and  for  furs — certainly  a 
catholic  assortment. 

Saint  Gall  is  the  centre  for  the  embroidery  trade, 
done  so  cleverly  by  ingenious  machines  that  it  might 
pass  for  handwork;  it  is  quite  possible  that  much  of 
it  is  bought  by  the  tourist  under  this  delusion,  but 
this  is  their  own  mistake.  Formerly  most  of  it  was 
done  in  the  homes,  like  so  much  of  the  product  of 
the  peasant  industries  of  Europe,  but  it  is  concen- 
trating in  central  factories  that,  with  constantly  im- 
proving machines  and  the  big  output,  are  killing  off 
the  hand  embroideries.     So  much  is  this  so  that  only 


198      THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 


in  Apenzall  is  any  great  volume  of  real  hand  em- 
broideries to  be  found. 

The  little  girl  embroideresses,  who  sit  outside  of 
the  big  embroidery  shops  of  Lucerne,  are  survivals 

in  a  way,  and  are  mostly 
from  this  canton.  Their 
tight  braids  are  held  with 
the  silver  comb  of  the 
Apenzall,  and  they,  like 
the  little  waitresses,  wear 
the  peasant  costume,  and 
bend  above  their  embroid- 
ery frame,  over  the  eye-de- 
stroying work,  at  the  hours 
that  the  women  turn  out 
from  the  Luzemerhof  and 
the  Hotel  National  for 
the  excitement  of  strolling 
through  the  tasteful  and 
tempting  lace  and  embroidery  shops.  They  do  also 
the  initial  work  so  much  in  demand  on  purchases,  and 
the  delicate  ornamentation  of  the  handkerchiefs  and 
small  articles. 

In  the  lavishly  embroidered  underwear  the  quality 
of  the  material  is  not  infrequently  sacrificed  to  an 
elaborate  decorative  effect;  this  is  true  of  the  cheaper 
grades  at  least. 

It  is  an  open  question  as  to  how  much  more  profit- 
able it  is  to  load  down  trunks  with  knitted  underwear, 
under  the  impression  of  getting  bargains,  which  they 
certainly  are  not  after  the  duty  is  paid,  than  buying 


THE  EUROPEAN  SHOPPING  TOUR      199 

the  same  thing  at  home.  And  does  one  come  abroad 
for  such  prosaic  goods? 

Far  better  the  watch  of  Geneva,  which  in  price 
holds  its  own  against  much  equally  good  competition 
at  home  and  abroad.  The  watches  are,  to  a  large 
extent,  still  made  in  the  homes  of  the  workers  by 
piece  work,  and  from  Swiss  workshops  came  the  in- 
vention of  the  thin,  non-bulky  watch,  dearly  beloved 
of  the  woman,  some  of  them  not  much  thicker  than  a 
fifty-cent  piece. 

As  for  furs  it  is  possible  that  one  might  catch  up 
on  expenditures  here,  for  the  dressing  of  furs,  if 
not  the  growing  of  them,  very  nearly  reaches  per- 
fection in  Geneva. 

Perhaps  one  buys  more  milk  chocolate  than  any- 
thing else  in  what  is  usually  a  hurried  rush  across  the 
Alps.  There  are  many  brands  of  this,  almost  as 
thin  as  the  watches,  but  it  doesn't  make  much  differ- 
ence which  mark  one  prefers,  for  most  of  them  are  in 
a  trust. 

Wood-carvings  are  supposed  to  be  a  low-priced 
specialty  of  Switzerland,  but  they  are  quite  as  low- 
priced  and  equally  attractive  at  Saint  Claude,  in  the 
French  Jura,  and  in  any  one  of  a  half-dozen  Black 
Forest  villages. 

GERMANY 

In  shopping  in  Germany  one  is  more  apt  to  get 
the  real  thing  than  in  many  Continental  countries. 
There  is  a  penalty  if  the  shopkeeper  advertises  a 
thing  other  than  as  it  is;  if  it  is  part  silk  and  cotton 


200      THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

mixed  he  cannot  sell  It  as  all  silk,  nor  can  he  advertise 
in  the  grandiose  fashion  of  our  own  land  and  others, 
to  the  effect  that  a  certain  article  is  the  best  in  the 
world,  that  there  is  none  so  good  and  like  statements 
of  a  misleading  nature. 

Germany  is  growing  to  be  the  most  progressive 
country  in  Europe,  and  is  not  behind  in  its  shops. 
One  of  the  most  complete  department  stores  in  all 
of  Europe  is  in  Berlin  in  the  Passage  Kaufhaus.  It 
is  one  of  a  chain  of  great  department  stores,  and  is 
an  exposition  in  itself,  decorated  in  the  ornate  Ger- 
man taste,  after  the  most  modern  development  of 
the  art-nouveau.  The  attractions  of  our  department 
stores  pale  beside  the  glitter,  electrically  lighted 
fountains  and  gorgeous  marbles  that  suggest,  truth 
to  tell,  a  beer-hall  quite  as  much  as  a  place  to  shop. 

German  department  stores  and  her  beer-halls  rival 
each  other  in  magnificence.  Both  are  "  done  up  " 
in  the  gorgeous  ornate  modern  style  of  German 
art,  florid,  overpowering,  loaded  down  with  orna- 
ment, heavy  and  massive,  like  the  Germans  them- 
selves. No  matter  how  the  most  modern  of  art 
be  applied  to  decoration  the  influence  of  the  mediaeval 
German  art  influences  it  still.  German  goods  and 
German  taste  do  not  make  a  strong  appeal  to  the 
American  taste ;  the  Germans  have  not  a  happy  sense 
of  colour;  they  are  peculiarly  tasteless  in  their  colour 
combinations.  Their  workmanship  Is  of  the  best, 
however,  that  is,  in  the  expensive  grade  of  goods. 

Austrian  novelties  attract  the  American  perhaps 
more  than   any  at  the  present   time.     From   both 


THE  EUROPEAN  SHOPPING  TOUR      201 

Germany  and  Austria  come  ornamental  leather  work, 
coloured  and  stamped  leathers,  small  articles  for  per- 
sonal use. 

The  coloured,  stamped  designs,  quaint  figures  and 
landscapes  on  tablecloths,  on  children's  aprons,  and 
the  coloured  table  linen  in  blue,  white  and  red  de- 
signs is  very  popular  among  the  Teutons;  indeed  it 
is  hard  apparently  for  the  Germans  to  get  away  from 
staring  colours,  but  heavens,  how  inartistically  it  is 
used  I 

ITALY 

Florence  Is  the  shopping  centre  of  Italy;  it  cer- 
tainly gives  a  fillip  to  the  ordinary  procedure  of  buy- 
ing things  to  make  purchases  in  shops  that  have  been 
in  business,  if  not  from  Dante's  day,  at  least  back 
in  the  mists  of  a  couple  of  hundred  years,  which  fact 
is  not  a  small  asset  with  some  of  the  shops  of  Italy. 
Of  course  one  must  bargain  in  Italy,  and  any  notable 
bargain  price  simply  means  that  you  are  getting  some- 
where within  sight  of  the  original  price  at  which  the 
article  was  intended  to  be  sold. 

The  Italian  shopkeeper  is  ingenious  and  appeals 
to  the  bargain  instinct  latent  in  the  inveterate  shopper 
by  giving  a  commission  besides  on  purchases  to  those 
who  can  bring  trade  to  his  shop.  There  are  women  to 
whom  the  treasures  of  the  UffizzI  and  the  Pitti 
Galleries  are  as  nothing  compared  with  getting  a  lire 
or  two  thrown  off  of  intrinsically  valueless  bits  of 
bric-a-brac,  which  in  the  end  they  have  to  give  away 
as  presents  to  get  rid  of. 


202       THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

Italy  is  a  little  too  much  like  a  big  bric-a-brac 
shop.  The  lace  and  embroidery  industries  that  are 
being  encouraged  in  many  places,  such  as  Sienna  and 
in  Sicily,  are  more  worthy  of  patronage,  and  if  nice, 
white,  sugar-loaf  marble  statues  are  required  it  is 
worth  while  to  turn  out  of  the  modern  Pilgrim's  Way 


long  enough  to  visit  the  quarries  of  Carrara,  near 
Massa,  where  they  originate. 

If  Italy  has  one  specialty  it  is  hats — ^the  straw 
hats  of  Tuscany  that  can  be  bought  at  any  price  in 
the  markets  of  Italy,  even  for  a  few  cents.  Every 
woman  and  child  plaits  straw  for  these  hats.  One 
sees  them  in  town  and  country  alike  mechanically 


THE  EUROPEAN  SHOPPING  TOUR      203 

manipulating  a  handful  of  straw  as  the  peasant 
woman  of  France  eternally  clicks  her  knitting  needles, 
all  this  for  a  few  cents  a  day.  Felt  hats,  too,  come 
from  Italy,  and  there  is  foundation  for  the  rumour 
that  some  of  the  best  American  felt  hats  with 
Broadway  trademarks  come  into  being  by  way  of 
Italy. 

The  American  tourist  is  trusted  abroad  in  all 
money  dealings  with  a  confidence  that  is  astonishing 
and  almost  touching,  making  them  blush  for  their 
home  business  methods.  The  ease  with  which  credit 
is  thrust  upon  them  speaks  well  for  the  way  in  which 
Americans  abroad  have  met  their  end  of  touring  obli- 
gations. Of  course  the  fact  that  the  foreigner  sees 
Americans  through  a  golden  nimbus  has  something 
to  do  with  this,  but  certain  it  is  that  he  treats  them 
with  a  liberality  that  he  does  not  display  towards  his 
own  people.  The  shopkeeper  will  put  himself  to  no 
end  of  trouble  for  his  customers  from  over  the  sea, 
and  the  big  Paris  shop  will  send  hundreds  of  dollars 
of  goods  to  your  hotel  without  any  guarantee  but 
your  expressed  desire  to  make  a  selection. 

One  can  have  C.O.D.  packages  follow  them  all 
over  Europe,  and  such  have  been  known  to  turn  up 
six  days  out  at  sea  on  the  return  voyage.  A  piece 
of  antique  jewelry  catches  your  fancy  in  Florence, 
but  as  you  will  not  be  able  to  tell  the  exact  state  of 
your  finances  until  you  get  to  Rome  you  forego  even 
the  pleasure  of  thinking  that  you  would  like  to  own 
it.  That  is  nothing;  the  obliging  shopkeeper  offers 
to  send  a  clerk  down  to  Rome  with  the  jewel,  deliver- 


204      THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

ing  it  to  you  there  against  payment.  Somehow  or 
other  you  get  away  from  the  shop,  but  somehow  or 
other  you  have  also  impressed  your  name  and  ad- 
dress upon  the  proprietor. 

You  forget  Florence  in  your  eternal  round  of  the 
Eternal  City,  and  go  on  to  Naples  in  the  same  forget- 
ful mood,  and  though  he  may  not  have  caught  up 
with  you  as  yet,  the  clerk  and  the  jewel  are  on  your 
trail.  On  the  gang-plank  of  the  homeward  bound 
steamer  he  smilingly  confronts  you — ^you  who  have 
only  an  exhausted  letter  of  credit  left — with  the 
package.  It  is  easy  to  see  what  profit  the  transaction 
must  represent.  Just  imagine  a  situation  wherein  a 
New  York  shopkeeper  chased  a  prospective  customer 
as  far  as  a  Boston  steamship  pier,  on  no  greater 
encouragement  than  a  mere  glance  of  approba- 
tion. 

In  a  diligence  of  the  Swiss  Federal  Post,  with  its 
six  horses  creeping  laboriously  up  the  Furka  Pass, 
sat  an  elderly  woman  from  a  western  prairie  town. 
Her  knotted  hands  had  known  the  broom  and  wash- 
tub  in  days  not  so  very  long  ago,  but  seriously,  in- 
telligently and  conscientiously,  she  was  doing  her 
European  stint  in  the  wake  of  a  progressive  daugh- 
ter. 

They  had  only  a  few  scant  days  in  which  to  reel 
off  the  Rhine,  after  Switzerland,  and  get  to  their 
steamer,  but  throughout  that  Alpine  mountain  climb 
the  burden  of  the  old  lady's  talk  was  that  Paris  must 
be  revisited  for  at  least  two  days ;  "  for  you  know, 
my  dear,"  this  to  the  reluctant  daughter,  "  before 


THE  EUROPEAN  SHOPPING  TOUR      205 

we   go  back  I   must  get  me  that  black   cashmere 
dress." 

After  all,  is  this  not  what  shopping  abroad  means 
— going  back  home  with  that  dress  bought  in  Paris, 
and  for  whose  sake  we  are  willing  to  defy  even  the 
hundred-dollar  limit. 


man 


DRESS   IN   HARMONY  WITH   SURROUNDINGS 

INFLUENCE  OF  CLOTHES  ON  THE  MIND 

AVOIDING  THE  LABEL  OF  "  TOURIST  " 

THE  AMERICAN  GIRL  AND  THE  SHIRTWAIST 

INDIVIDUALITY  OF  THE   FOREIGN  WOMAN 

THE  HAT  A  EUROPEAN  CLASS  DISTINCTION 

AMERICAN  ATTITUDE  TOWARDS  THINGS  FRENCH 

EVENING  DRESS 

THE  CLOSE  FRENCH  CUT 

UNECONOMIC  BLUE  SERGE 

DELICATE  MATTER  OF   LINGERIE 

THE  **  DESSOUS  " 

PROFITABLE  TRADE  OF  THE  CORSET-MAKER 

CLOTHES  AND  THE  GERMAN  WOMAN 

THE   frenchwoman's  METHODS 

EXPENSE  ACCOUNT  OF  A  PARISIENNE 

SOME   FRENCH   ECONOMIES 

"  MAKING  UP  " 

DISTINCTION  OF  THE  AUSTRIAN  WOMAN 

WHERE  STYLES  ORIGINATE 

BERLIN   ADAPTS    PARIS   MODELS 

HATS  IN  SPAIN 

SPANISH  LENTEN  DRESS 

ARISTOCRATIC   DRESSMAKERS  OF   LONDON 


VIII 

CLOTHES  AND  THE  WOMAN 

There  was  once  an  American  woman  with  a  tem- 
perament who  made  a  point  of  dressing  as  nearly  as 
was  practicable  in  the  style  of  the  particular  country 
through  which  she  happened  to  be  travelling,  declar- 
ing that  by  putting  oneself  as  nearly  as  possible  in  a 
mental  and  outward  harmony  with  one's  surround- 
ings, that  then  only  could  one  arrive  at  a  just  esti- 
mate of  values  and  get  to  know  intimately  a  foreign 
country  and  its  people. 

Acting  on  this  theory  she  went  to  Redfern's  in 
London  for  the  severest  of  tailor-mades,  while  for 
Scotland  the  same  house  turned  her  out  a  travelling 
dress  of  shepherd's  plaid,  with  which  she  wore  a 
jaunty  Scotch  cap,  ornamented  with  a  pheasant's 
feather  and  a  cairngorm  buckle.  In  Ireland  she 
wrapped  herself  in  the  long  red  cloak  of  the  peasant 
woman,  and  only  regretted  that  she  could  not  carry 
a  shillalah,  but  made  up  for  the  lack  of  it  with  even- 
ing gowns  of  Irish  lace  and  silk  poplin.  Paquin  de- 
signed her  a  trottoir  of  the  approved  French  scanti- 
ness that  fitted  like  a  glove  and  was  a  size  too  small, 
but  in  which  she  could  cultivate  the  chic  air  of  the 
Parisienne,  carrying  at  the  same  time  a  toy  terrier 
under  her  arm. 

209 


2IO      THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

She  turned  sportswoman  and  hunted  in  the  Aus- 
trian forests  with  skirts  to  her  knees,  long  leather 
boots,  and  an  eagle's  feather  stuck  in  a  green  Tyro- 
lean hat.  It  was  all  her  friends  could  do  to  keep 
her  from  embarrassing  them  by  going  about  Holland 
looking  like  a  "  Baker's  Chocolate  "  girl,  so  she  com- 
promised by  collecting  silver  wire  buttons  from  the 
natives  and  sewing  them  on  her  coat  and  wearing  as 
many  extra  petticoats  as  she  could  comfortably  get 
about  in. 

She  plaited  her  hair  in  braids  in  Germany,  wore 
a  military,  visored  cap,  and  a  woollen  blouse,  and 
discarded  her  Parisian  corsets.  In  Switzerland  her 
Alpine  hat  was  always  wreathed  in  eidelweiss,  and 
she  never  went  out  without  an  alpenstock,  though 
she  never  climbed  higher  than  the  embroidery  shops 
in  the  village.  In  Italy  she  hung  herself  about  with 
coral  chains,  and  in  Spain  dressed  in  discreet  black, 
with  a  black  lace  scarf  in  place  of  a  hat,  and  dis- 
carded her  Baedeker  for  a  fan. 

With  no  mean  ability  as  a  linguist  and  much 
dramatic  instinct  she  was  thus  able  to  project  her- 
self into  sympathetic  relations,  to  her  own  satisfac- 
tion at  least,  with  those  with  whom  she  came  in  con- 
tact. Naturally  much  of  the  lady's  time  was  spent 
in  tailor  and  dressmaking  establishments,  but  some 
modified  scheme  on  these  lines  might  be  of  real  assist- 
ance to  the  tourist. 

Aside  from  the  scientific  deduction  that  dress  does 
influence  the  mind,  it  is  well,  if  possible,  not  to  em- 
phasise the  fact  that  one  is  a  tourist  any  more  than 


CLOTHES  AND  THE  WOMAN  211 

can  be  avoided.  The  fact  is  patent  enough  and  the 
American  woman  will  find  it  to  her  advantage  to 
modify,  when  she  goes  abroad,  any  pronounced  style 
of  dress  tending  to  stamp  her  with  too  much  in- 
dividuality and  unduly  blazon  her  nationality  abroad. 
This  is  not  by  desire  to  discount  her  patriotism  and 
undervalue  her  national  pride,  but  simply  in  her  own 
interests.  It  is  not  either  that  she  should  dress  like 
the  foreign  women  en  tour — the  patron  saint  of 
fashion  (if  there  is  one)  forbid!  No  nation  can 
send  out  into  the  world  women  so  correctly  and  ap- 
propriately dressed  for  the  journey  as  can  America. 
The  American  woman's  shoes,  belts  and  neckwear 
are  an  object  lesson  to  feminine  Europe.  But  by 
studying  the  little  differences  that  exist  between  one's 
own  taste  and  that  of  the  foreigner,  adopting  acces- 
sories of  toilet  that  mean  both  much  and  little  and 
eliminating  any  marked  mannerisms  of  dress,  the 
American  woman  can  save  herself  from  many  little 
side  annoyances  that  breed  those  complaints  so  often 
made  against  foreign  manners  and  foreign  looks 
especially.  If  expense  is  any  object,  to  give  the  native 
as  little  chance  to  classify  the  traveller  as  possible 
does  away  with  much  of  the  overcharge  and  accusa- 
tions of  extortion  that  are  beginning  to  embitter  the 
American  in  his  relation  with  the  foreigner. 

An  observing  Scotchman  remarked  once  that  the 
reason  the  American  girls  looked  so  much  alike  must 
be  because  they  all  wore  shirtwaists.  Certain  it  Is 
that  the  Ajnerican  woman  is  less  individual  in  her 
dress  than  the  rest  of  femininity,  and  the  catch  phrase 


212      THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

of  shop-clerk  and  dressmaker  alike  in  America  is: 
**  Everybody  is  wearing  it " — this  is  the  first,  mid- 
dle and  last  argument  in  favour  of  any  newly- 
launched  article  of  wearing  apparel. 

No  woman  keeps  closer  in  touch  with  the  changes 
in  fashions  than  does  the  Frenchwoman,  but  she 
can  always  give  them  a  turn  that  is  best  suited  to  her 
personality,  and  no  matter  how  pronounced  the  mode 
she  invariably  stamps  it  with  her  individuality.  So 
does  the  German  and  English  and  Italian  woman, 
though  not  always  to  their  advantage,  not  having 
the  discriminating  taste  of  the  Frenchwoman  to  be- 
gin with. 

When  the  American  woman  gets  on  the  other  side, 
this  trait  of  dressing  like  everybody  else  becomes 
more  apparent.  If  it  is  the  season  for  green  veils,  a 
verdant  streamer  flies  from  every  hat;  if  it  is  the  cult 
of  the  velvet  bow,  every  girl's  chin  nestles  in  one. 
The  hats  are  all  tipped  at  the  same  angle,  all  orna- 
ment is  of  the  same  family  design, — with  the  stron- 
gest individuality  of  all  feminine  creation  the  Ameri- 
can woman  shows  it  least  in  her  outward  appear- 
ance. 

The  blue  serge  suit  is  almost  a  uniform  for  the 
travelling  American  woman.  Thoughtfully  con- 
sidered, it  is  one  of  the  most  uneconomical  and  unsuit- 
able of  materials  for  hard  wear,  which  fact  the 
automobile  is  demonstrating,  and  incidentally  is 
giving  it  a  hard  knock  by  bringing  into  favour 
mixed  goods  of  indeterminate  colours.  The  soft 
greenish-greys    that    the    English    affect    so    much 


CLOTHES  AND  THE  WOMAN  213 

for  outing  clothes,  the  kind  that  one  could  fall  into 
the  water  with  and  come  out  looking  all  right  with  a 
little  brushing  off,  are  fast  catching  on  among  fer- 
vents  of  the  automobile  of  both  sexes. 

Nothing  attracts  more  attention  than  the  recent  fad 
of  the  bare  head.  When  the  American  woman  breez- 
ily motors  through  the  towns  or  along  the  country 
roads,  carries  her  hat  in  her  hand  in  the  train  and 
bares  her  head  to  cooling  mountain  breezes  on  an 
outside  seat  on  the  top  of  an  Alpine  diligence,  it 
provokes  not  a  little  comment  and  not  a  few  smiles 
by  the  way. 

A  Frenchwoman  explained  the  situation.  ''  Mon 
amie,  never  go  without  a  hat,  or  you  will  be  taken 
for  a  peasant  woman,  not  even  does  a  lady  go  across 
to  a  neighbour's  without  putting  on  a  hat,  she  does 
not  even  sit  in  her  own  garden  bareheaded — outside 
the  house  the  chapeau  est  toujours  de  rigueur/' 

So  the  wearing  of  a  hat  is  a  class  distinction,  evi- 
dently to  be  rigidly  observed  if  one  does  not  want 
to  lose  caste,  but  Americans  have  introduced  many 
things  abroad  and  they  may  be  successful  with  this 
craze  if  their  fickle  fancy  doesn't  meanwhile  turn  to 
something  more  novel. 

The  prevailing  attitude  of  the  feminine  world  is 
towards  all  things  French  in  dress.  That  it  is  French 
necessarily  implies  always  something  a  little  overgay, 
something  that  is  outre — not  to  say  wicked — and  this 
is  a  fact  which  often  biases  the  usually  discriminating 
American  woman  in  selecting  her  Paris  dresses.  Un- 
less things  are  decidedly  "  loud  "  or  bizarre  she  feels 


214      THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

that  they  may  not  be  sufficiently  ^'  Frenchy  "  in  style 
to  be  unmistakably  genuine. 

The  keen  Parisian  milliner  and  dressmaker,  know- 
ing this,  fosters  this  spirit,  or  rather  delusion,  and 
fits  out  his  American  patrons  in  costumes  and  toilet 
accessories  that  are  only  affected  by  the  people  of  the 
stage  and  the  *'  queens  of  the  left  hand,"  and  while 
the  American  is  getting  wiser  in  this  respect,  and  the 
sharp-witted  Parisian  will  not  be  slow  to  follow, 
it  is  true  that  a  certain  class  of  spendthrift  Americans 
has  for  long  been  a  profitable  joke  to  those  plungers 
in  the  Bourse  des  Chiffons. 

Genuine  French  dressing  is  distinguished  by  a  care- 
fully studied  sobriety  and  an  exquisite  and  harmoni- 
ous blending  of  colour.  These  are  its  real  character- 
istics, and  any  combination  that  "  hits  one  in  the 
eye,'*  to  use  their  own  phraseology,  too  vividly,  may 
be  set  aside  as  being  a  spurious  trashy  thing.  A  lot 
of  poor  and  unworthy  stuff  is  sent  out — even  from 
Paris;  there  are  even  plenty  of  genuine  antiques  that 
are  bad  art,  so  it  is  not  strange  that  all  Parisian 
clothes  are  not  in  good  taste. 

The  Englishwoman  has  an  air  of  "  full  dress  " 
about  her  evening  costume  that  is  never  so  notice- 
able in  the  American;  the  latter  is  still  averse  to 
baring  her  head  and  shoulders  in  public  places,  while 
the  Englishwoman  goes  to  the  theatre,  to  public 
restaurants  as  well  as  those  in  hotels,  in  a  decollete 
evening  gown  and  no  hat.  She  does  the  same  thing 
on  the  Continent  and  gets  stared  at,  for  while  low- 
neck  is  universal,   where  society  goes  at  least,   the 


CLOTHES  AND  THE  WOMAN  215 

women  of  other  countries  make  a  point  of  wearing  a 
hat — only  called  so  by  courtesy  sometimes,  but  still 
the  head  is  covered.  Under  the  same  circumstances 
the  American  may  wear  richer  clothes  but  will  be 
more  puritanically  veiled,  although  she  may  too  dis- 
card the  hat. 

Paris  is  the  woman's  city  through  this  same 
question  of  clothes.  Paris  still  makes  the  fashions. 
Breathlessly  do  all  makers  and  wearers  of  feminine 
garments  await  the  edict  and  laws  of  this  despotic 
queen  who  reigns  by  the  banks  of  the  Seine,  but 
wisely  is  the  American  adapting  them  to  her  own 
style.  The  broad-shouldered,  deep-chested  American 
woman  realises  that  what  is  suitable  for  the  slight, 
small-boned  Frenchwoman  does  not  become  her  ath- 
letic lines.  Fewer  dresses  are  being  made  in  Paris, 
though  their  workrooms  are  being  haunted  more  and 
more  if  but  for  the  snippings  that  fall  from  the 
scissors  of  those  artists  of  the  needle.  And  though 
the  Parisian  dressmaker  is  trying  to  give  the  desired 
American  cut,  sleeves  are  still  too  short,  armholes 
too  tight  and  backs  too  narrow.  The  tradition  of 
the  Paris  woman  is  a  question  of  line.  The  lines 
of  the  form  must  be  accentuated,  not  hidden,  hence 
everything  is  close-fitting;  also  the  motive  of  economy 
enters  Into  it  and,  as  In  most  things  French,  cloth 
Is  scrimped  to  the  closest  possible  margin.  This 
makes  for  trimness  and  chlcness  It  Is  true,  and  with 
her  well-colffed  hair,  slightly  gummed  to  stay  In 
place,  the  Frenchwoman  does  produce  a  harmoni- 
ous whole,  beside  whom  the  best-groomed  woman 


2i6      THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

of  other  lands  at  times  is  apt  to  look  the  least  bit 
frowsy. 

But  it  is  to  the  dessous  that  belongs  the  real 
credit  of  the  elegance  of  the  Frenchwoman.  This 
delicate  matter  of  lingerie  is  her  peculiar  heritage, 
and  in  the  gout  des  deshabilles  she  rightly  declares 
lies  the  whole  secret  of  the  fine  art  of  dress. 

A  Frenchwoman  spends  more  money  on  her  under- 
garments than  on  her  dress,  and  she  never  econo- 
mises on  her  corsets.  From  the  woman  of  society 
down  the  scale  to  the  little  shop-girl,  all  equally 
recognise  the  importance  of  the  dessous^  and  French 
lingerie  has  become  the  standard  set  for  the  well- 
dressed  woman. 

This  taste  in  lingerie  comes  not  only  from  an 
innate  elegance,  but  is  made  possible  through  the 
education  and  ability  of  the  Frenchwoman  with  her 
needle.  Her  school-work  is  largely  the  science  of 
embroidery,  and  rarely  is  the  Frenchwoman,  at  home 
or  abroad,  without  a  bit  of  needlework  in  her  hands, 
and  in  odd  moments  she  makes  herself  much  of  the 
laces  and  embroideries  for  her  garments.  Even  the 
most  uncouth  French  peasant  girl  is  taught  the  art 
of  embroidery  of  an  elementary  kind.  The  under- 
garments of  the  French  workingwoman  are,  as  to 
quality  and  garniture,  a  revelation  in  comparison  with 
those  of  the  same  class  elsewhere. 

The  Frenchwoman  would  as  soon  think  of  buying 
a  ready-made  dress  as  a  stock  corset;  both  are  equally 
repugnant  to  her  taste,  a  feeling  that  runs  down  the 
entire  scale  of  feminine  France.    The  modish  woman 


CLOTHES  AND  THE  WOMAN  217 

will  willingly  spend  as  much  as  fifty  to  ^ve  hundred 
francs  on  a  pair  of  corsets  and  have  one  for  each 
costume,  while  the  petty  bonrgeoise  will  pay  from 
twenty  to  thirty-five  francs  for  corsets  made  to  order, 
though  she  will  make  her  own  dresses  and  skimp  on 
the  children's  food  to  do  it. 

This  practice  is  responsible  for  the  trade  of  the 
corsetiere,  one  of  the  most  lucrative  professions 
open  to  women  in  France.  Paris  suburbs  are  full  of 
the  comfortable  little  homes  of  retired  corsetteres 
and  their  husbands  who  have  retired  also  on  the  for- 
tunes made  in  the  manufacture  of  these  "  les  armoi- 
ries  des  femmes," 

Corset  shops  abound  all  over  France  and  in  the 
provincial  towns  the  general  stores  often  do  not  stock 
corsets  at  all.  They  can  be  made  as  cheaply  as  the 
ready-made.  The  French  department  store  corset, 
however,  is  more  expensive  than  the  same  grades  in 
America,  and  is  very  often  either  of  American  or 
German  make. 

As  one  leaves  France  behind,  the  elegance  of  the 
corset  diminishes.  Whether  to  the  practice  of  not 
wearing  corsets,  so  general  in  Germany,  is  due  the 
shapelessness  of  the  German  article  of  commerce,  or 
whether  it  is  that  the  inartistic  lines  of  the  home- 
made product  have  discouraged  the  wearing  of  them, 
the  fact  is  that  the  corset  has  been  largely  discarded, 
a  fact  which  puts  the  last  accent  on  the  unfortunate 
lack  of  taste  of  the  German  woman,  and  is  respon- 
sible for  that  national  institution — the  German  waist- 
line. 


2i8      THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

The  Frenchman  has  expressed  his  disapproval  of 
the  heavy  calf-skin  American  shoe :  '^  Pas  pour  les 
dames f*^  he  says,  and  the  Frenchwoman  listens.  The 
eye  of  man  is  the  mirror  In  which  she  gauges  her  at- 
tractiveness;  above  all  does  he  admire  femininity. 
All  the  same,  the  American  shoe,  or  a  fairly  good 
French  Imitation  of  it,  is  deposing  the  Louis  Quinze 
heel  and  unnaturally  long  vamp  shoe  that  has  made 
every  one  wonder  how  the  French  footwear  ever 
got  its  reputation  for  grace  and  beauty. 

Another  shattered  tradition  is  that  of  the  heavy 
English  walking-boot.  The  English  wear  most  gen- 
erally a  thinner-soled  shoe  than  the  American.  The 
American  shoe  is  gaining  in  favour,  though  the  Eng- 
lishwoman complains  it  does  not  stand  up  under  the 
strain  of  getting  wet  most  days  in  the  year  as  does 
the  more  acclimatised  British  article. 

The  Frenchwoman  may  have  lost  her  feet  to  z 
foreign  shoe,  but  she  has  kept  her  head.  The 
French  hat  is  made  an  integral  part  of  the  coiffure 
and  Is  not  simply  an  inverted  basket  of  bizarre  orna- 
ment. The  secret  of  the  Frenchwoman's  hat  lies 
really  in  the  care  which  she  gives  to  the  arrangement 
of  her  hair  and  the  accuracy  with  which  she  poses 
the  hat  upon  her  head. 

If  the  Frenchwoman  is  the  fashion  mannequin 
who  promenades  the  world's  stage  before  an  inter- 
national audience  of  buyers,  It  is  well  to  study  her 
methods  nevertheless.  She  spends  less  on  her  dress 
and  gets  better  results  than  woman  of  any  other 
nationality.    How  does  she  do  it?    Economy  alone 


CLOTHES  AND  THE  WOMAN  219 

won't  accomplish  it,  though  she  is  past  mistress  in  the 
art. 

.To  begin  with,  dress  to  the  chic  woman  is  a  busi- 
ness, not  an  amusement  or  the  excitement  of  merely 
"  buying  something "  regardless  of  its  suitableness 
or  use.  Then  she  follows  the  injunction  of  the  an- 
cient philosopher:  "Know  thyself."  No  vagaries 
of  fashion  can  possibly  lead  her  to  fall  in  the  pit  of 
unbecomingness.  She  has  catalogued  her  good 
points,  and  knows  how  to  accentuate  them.  Like  all 
her  people  she  is  at  heart  an  artist,  which  she  com- 
bines with  a  financial  sagacity  that  is  remarkable. 
The  chic  Parisienne  does  not  always  patronise  the 
'^  grands  faiseurs/^  but  by  a  system  of  shopping 
around  finds  out  when  a  "  premiere "  or  head- 
saleswoman  of  one  of  the  big  couturiers  is  about  to 
set  up  in  business  for  herself.  As  often  happens,  such 
a  one  will  give  astonishing  reductions  to  attract  the 
clientele  of  her  former  employers.  This  is  one  of 
the  ways  by  which  feminine  Paris  dresses  as  well  and 
more  economically  than  the  stranger  who  comes  with- 
out a  roadmap  to  the  heart  of  this  land  of  fashions. 
Just  here  may  be  put  in  a  word  of  warning.  Don't 
trust  too  implicitly  to  that  class  of  Parisian  woman 
who,  for  a  money  consideration,  or  a  friendly  inter- 
est, guides  the  footsteps  of  the  tourist  through  the 
shops  and  offers  to  take  them  to  her  own  dressmaker, 
or  her  special  little  modiste  whom  she  can  influence 
to  let  one  have  things  so  cheaply.  The  stranger  stands 
a  better  chance  of  getting  fair  treatment  at  the  well- 
known  shops.     The  petty  graft  of  the   "  Commis- 


220      THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

sion,"  which  always  In  the  end  comes  out  of  the  client, 
taints  the  attitude  of  Paris  towards  the  stranger  with 
a  full  purse  and  a  meagre  knowledge  of  the  language. 
The  true  Parisienne  Is  not  anxious  to  give  away  her 
secret  economies. 

A  Frenchwoman  would  commit  most  of  the  sins  In 
the  calendar  rather  than  be  demode,  and  one  way  in 
which  she  keeps  keyed  up  to  the  latest  harmonies  of 
fashion  Is  by  using  cheap  material  and  following 
closely  In  the  wake  of  new  models.  It  Is  thus  that  she 
is  able  to  appear  at  the  correctly  ordained  intervals 
required  by  fashion  In  the  requisite  number  of  new 
costumes  throughout  the  year.  She  prefers  to  do  this 
rather  than  buy  costly  and  good  material  which 
could  not  be  lightly  discarded,  thus  being  obliged 
to  wear  them  after  the  first  bloom  of  style  had 
faded.  Neither  has  the  made-over  any  attraction  for 
her;  "It  can  always  be  detected,^'  she  will  tell  you. 

She  does  though  understand  the  art  of  the  ''  res- 
sert*^ — of  utilising  old  stuff.  A  gown  may  be  sold, 
or  even  exchanged,  or  a  ball  declasse  dress  serve  as  a 
jupon,  but  the  remodelled  dress  plays  no  part  In  her 
wardrobe.  In  this  she  scores  over  the  economies 
of  her  sisters  of  other  nations. 

A  Parisian  journalist  of  renown  has  recently  com- 
piled, after  a  careful  study  of  the  question,  what  may 
be  considered  a  fair  expense  account  of  a  wealthy 
Parisienne.  It  totals  seventy-five  thousand  francs, 
say  fifteen  thousand  dollars,  but  Its  purchasing  power, 
as  compared  to  what  the  American  could  do  In  Paris, 
may  well  be  estimated  at  double  that  figure. 


CLOTHES  AND  THE  WOMAN  221 

Her  tailor,  milliner  and  coiffeur  use  up  forty  thou- 
sand francs  of  this  sum,  the  remainder  being  devoted 
to  the  accessories  of  the  toilet;  she  is  wise  enough  to 
know  that  nearly  half  of  her  expenditure  Is  none 
too  much  for  minor  articles.  Naturally  this  cannot 
be  made  to  include  jewels,  other  than  slight  ephem- 
eral novelties. 

The  capable  Parisienne  again  can  often  accom- 
plish on  twenty  thousand  francs  what  an  American 
would  usually  have  to  spend  twenty  thousand  dol- 
lars to  duplicate  at  home.  But  to  be  a  thorough 
Parisienne  on  this  amount  requires  a  knowledge  of 
values  that  the  American  must  spend  years,  not 
months  only,  in  Paris  to  acquire,  beside  being  pos- 
sessed of  a  no  mean  financial  ability. 

The  Parisian  woman  plans  out  a  campaign  years 
ahead,  replenishing  certain  parts  of  her  wardrobe 
each  year,  and  an  intelligent  system  is  set  into  opera- 
tion for  remaking,  redying  and  renewing  other  arti- 
cles with  each  season  and  demi-season.  One  year  she 
will  buy  a  costly  set  of  furs,  another  year  it  will  be 
a  handsome  costume  trottoir  from  the  Maison  Worth 
instead  of  a  new  ball  gown,  which  has  served  but  once 
or  twice  at  the  opera  and  can  thus  be  considered  as 
new  for  the  ball  this  year.  It's  a  game  that  the 
capable  Frenchwoman  plays  and  plays  well,  for  it 
is  her  real  passion.  She  has  Napoleonic  ability  when 
it  comes  to  money  matters  in  spite  of  her  naivete. 
Any  extravagance  is  only  on  the  surface;  she  buys 
npthing  because  she  '*  can't  do  without  it  " ;  she  gets 


222      THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

full  value  according  to  her  tastes,  at  least,  for  all 
she  spends. 

Still  further  down  the  scale  is  the  pseudo-chic  Paris 
woman  who  makes  a  wonderfully  good  imitation  of 
a  queen  of  society  on  four  or  five  hundred  dollars 
a  year.  The  stranger  cannot  hope  to  compete  with 
this.  The  fashionable  dressmaker  or  milliner  is  not 
on  her  shopping  list.  She  gets  a  "  working  out  " 
seamstress  to  come  to  her  home  at  from  six  to  ten 
francs  a  day,  two  meals  included.  Together  they 
work  side  by  side  and  turn  out  a  pale  copy  of  one  of 
those  creations  that  bear  on  their  labels,  in  letters  of 
appropriate  gold,  the  great  names  of  the  Faubourg 
Saint  Honore  or  the  Rue  de  la  Paix.  She  makes  in 
the  same  way  a  satisfactory  substitute  for  twenty 
or  thirty  francs  a  hat  that  would  cost  five  or  six  hun- 
dred on  the  Boulevards,  and  with  the  exception  of 
the  obvious  inferiority  of  material  she  looks  as  well 
when  she  promenades  in  the  Bois  as  one  of  the  vrai 
chic  monde. 

The  custom  of  "  making-up  "  is  universal  among 
Frenchwomen,  hence  the  most  effective  and  compli- 
cated battery  of  aids  to  beauty  originate  in  Paris. 
Such  is  their  reputation  that  a  French  label  sells 
anything. 

The  Frenchwoman  makes  no  concealment;  there 
is  no  furtive  "  touching  up  "  for  her.  She  dyes  her 
hair  with  henna,  plasters  her  face  and  paints  her  lips 
as  if  she  is  making-up  for  the  glare  of  the  footlights. 
She  takes  not  less  than  an  hour  for  her  coiffure.  It 
is  carefully  given   a   lustre  with  one   liquid   and  a 


CLOTHES  AND  THE  WOMAN 


223 


glossy  smoothness  with  another  preparation.  She 
conceals  nothing.  She  considers  her  person  as  an 
artist  does  his  picture — a  work  of  art,  and  cares  not 
at  all  that  the  brush-marks  are  visible  so  long  as  the 
artistic  ensemble  is  satisfactory,  no  matter  how  arti- 
ficial it  may  be. 

Dress   elsewhere   in   Europe   is   a   colourless   and 
spiritless  imitation  of  Parisian  style  spoiled  by  local 


peculiarities.  A  notable  exception  is  that  of  the  Aus- 
trian woman,  the  most  distinguished  feminine  per- 
sonality in  Europe. 

The  Viennese  wear  Parisian  modes  plus  a  distinc- 
tion of  their  own.  When  the  foreigner  wants  to  pay  a 
genuine  compliment  to  the  American  woman  abroad 
he  says,  "  Dear  Madame,  I  thought  you  must  be 
Austrian."  The  Austrian  women  in  their  build  and 
style  of  carrying  their  clothes  more  nearly  resemble 


224      THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

the  American.  They  are  the  feminine  aristocracy  of 
Europe. 

Berlin,  Madrid,  St.  Petersburg,  all  the  European 
capitals  follow  meekly  the  lead  of  Paris  in  styles, 
while  the  dressmakers  of  Paris  in  turn  are  as  cos- 
mopoHtan  a  guild  as  their  world-wide  clientele.  Bel- 
gians, Austrians,  English  and  Americans;  such  is  the 
varied  nationality  of  those  that  go  to  make  up  the 
Paris  tailor  and  dressmaker  world — the  aristocrats  of 
the  profession.  Do  others  of  the  countries  of  Europe 
originate  any  styles?  Apparently  not.  Berlin  does  an 
enormous  trade  in  ready-made  clothing.  But  how? 
She  imports  Paris  models,  bowdlerises  them,  adapts 
them  to  suit  her  own  trade  and  then  exports  them 
to  all  points  of  the  compass — to  South  America — and 
— let  it  be  understood — to  the  United  States  as  well. 

In  one  country  the  hat  might  be,  and  frequently  is, 
discarded  to  advantage,  and  that  is  Spain.  In  place 
of  a  hat  the  Spanish  woman  wears  a  small  black  lace 
scarf  over  her  head,  or  only  a  piece  of  black  net; 
invariably  is  this  the  case  when  she  goes  to  Mass,  and 
as  the  upper-class  woman  when  seen  out  of  doors  is 
either  going  or  coming  from  church  this  sombre  head- 
dress seems  universal.  If  the  stranger  woman  arrives 
in  one  of  the  big  Spanish  cities  in  Holy  Week  before 
Easter  she  will  feel  as  conspicuous  in  her  hat  as  she 
would  in  a  bathing  costume.  It  is  the  equivalent  of 
having  a  label  with  the  words,  "  I  am  a  foreigner," 
bound  across  her  brow,  and  passersby  are  not  shy  In 
letting  her  know  how  eccentric  they  consider  her  taste 
by  remarks  ^s  well  as  looks. 


CLOTHES  AND  THE  WOMAN 


525 


Religious  etiquette  prescribes  the  wearing  of  black 
during  this  week  and  every  woman  of  every  grade 
of  society  is  garbed  in  unrelieved  black  with  the 
black  lace  head-scarf.  As  the  week  is  spent  visiting 
all  the  churches  the  effect  of  the  streets  is  an  unend- 
ing procession  of  these 
mourning  gowns,  and 
powder-whitened  faces 
which  have  much  to  do 
with  heightening  the 
effect  of  the  senoritas^ 
black  eyebrows.  Soci- 
ety wears  rich  black 
satins,  frequently  lined 
with  stuff  of  another 
colour,  a  soft  rose  or 
blue.  This  is  an  in- 
genious way  of  serving 
both  God  and  the 
World,  and  produces  a 
charming  effect  when 
skirts  are  lifted,  though 
it  seems  rather  sym- 
bolical of  the  idea  that  penitence  has  not  penetrated 
very  deeply. 

In  London  what  are  known  as  the  "  West  End  " 
Court  dressmakers  are  the  aristocracy  of  the  pro- 
fession, and  not  Infrequently  are  members  of  the 
aristocracy  itself,  pushed  Into  business  by  necessity 
and  often  bringing  with  them  their  Impecunious  lady 
friends  as  assistants. 


226      THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

This  society  dressmaking  sometimes  makes  up  in 
style  what  it  lacks  in  business  ability,  but  if  one  wants 
the  right  kind  of  dress  in  which  to  be  presented  at 
Court,  it  may  be  well  to  overlook  an  inflated  bill 
for  the  advantage  of  being  fitted  out  for  this  impor- 
tant occasion  by  one  who  has  been  through  the 
ceremony  herself,  and  can  thus  supply  hints  on  eti- 
quette as  well  as  feathers  for  the  hair. 

Indeed,  it  is  quite  a  business,  this  making  of  the 
Court  costume  for  the  democratic  American  woman, 
anxious  to  bow  before  Royalty,  but  then,  as  every 
one  knows,  woman  is  an  aristocrat  at  heart.  The 
expense  of  one  of  these  costumes  is  of  course  any- 
thing one  wishes  to  make  it,  but  the  Englishwoman 
will  place  the  estimate  not  far  from  $i,ooo  for 
the  long  Court  train  of  just  so  many  yards,  the  three 
white  feathers,  and  the  long  floating  veil.  Now 
the  aspirant  must  be  coached  for  her  diflicult  part, 
and  this  means  usually  a  Godmother  quite  unlike  the 
fairy  Godmothers  of  old,  inasmuch  as  she  does  not 
bestow  gifts  herself,  but  expects  a  substantial  return 
for  her  assistance. 

It  is  said  that  there  are  not  a  few  of  the  reduced 
nobility  who  have  gone  into  the  business  of  pre- 
senting the  wealthy  American  woman  at  Court,  sell- 
ing their  names  and  position  for  American  dollars. 

All  shopwomen  wear  black,  and  as  black  is  really 
the  badge  of  the  serving  class,  the  Englishwoman 
herself  keeps  away  from  it.  It  is  very  rarely  that  one 
sees  It  used,  unless  in  case  of  mourning,  and  then  it  is 
even  considered  in  good  form  for  the  friends  of  the 


CLOTHES  AND  THE  WOMAN  227 

family  to  put  on  black;  the  servants  dressing  In  the 
same  hue  at  the  expense  of  their  masters. 

In  London  one  can  dress  as  elaborately  for  the 
street  in  the  afternoon  as  one  wishes,  but  this  comes 
from  the  habit  of  driving  rather  than  walking  and 
this  is  the  result  of  cheap  cabs.  When  one  can  get 
about  for  twenty-five  cents  a  time  It  Is  economy  on 
clothes  to  take  a  cab.  The  same  holds  good  in  Paris, 
and  though  the  Parisian  is  not  so  prodigal  in  cab- 
fares,  she  is  most  careful  of  her  clothes,  which  is  the 
underlying  secret  of  the  fresh  appearance  at  all  times. 
She  never  wears  a  street  dress  in  the  house,  and  as 
she  lives  in  her  peignoir  until  noon,  her  clothes  get 
just  half  the  wear  of  the  ordinary  woman's.  The 
Frenchwoman  has  adopted  half-heartedly  the  tailor- 
made — the  trottoir — but  she  only  wears  it  when  it 
can't  be  avoided — in  her  rare  morning  outings  and 
for  travelling. 

In  London,  too,  the  tailor-made  is  not  considered 
the  proper  thing  after  luncheon,  any  more  than  it 
would  be  after  six  in  the  evening. 

Credit  in  England  is  too  facile;  it  is  easy  to  fall 
into  the  habit  of  running  accounts  for  as  long  as 
one  may  wish,  when  it  is  actually  difficult  to  get  a 
bill  presented.  The  usual  method  when  an  account 
is  presented  is  to  pay  something  on  account  only. 
"  Why,''  says  the  Englishman,  "  a  tailor  doesn't 
want  his  bill  paid  up  in  full;  he  would  think  he  was 
going  to  lose  his  customer's  patronage  if  you  paid 
him  up;  what  he  wants  is  only  a  few  pounds  paid  on 
account  and  another  large  order  put  in."     This  is 


228      THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

unquestionably  so.  This  system  of  holding  custom 
reacts  on  both  sides — the  customer  is  charged  more 
to  cover  the  accommodation  and  the  firm  is  often 
unable  to  meet  expenses  in  spite  of  big  outstanding 
accounts  for  which  they  fear  to  dun. 

Women  will  keep  themselves  in  debt  to  their  dress- 
makers not  only  in  the  matter  of  clothes,  but  will 
borrow  money  from  them.  The  question  of  clothing 
oneself  in  England  is  a  problem  in  more  ways  than 
one. 


iONDON 


THE  KINGDOM  OF  CLOTHES 
BOURSE  OF  FASHION  AND  BEAUTY 
WORTH,  THE  FIRST  MAN  DRESSMAKER 
THE  MAN  DRESSMAKER  AND  HIS  METHODS 
CREATION  OF  A  COSTUME 

"  THE  WEALTHIEST  STREET  IN  THE  WORLD  " 
REDFERN,  THE  MASTER  OF  LINE 
LEGEND  OF  THE  TAILOR-MADE  SUIT 

OUTPUT    OF    THE    PARIS    DRESSMAKING    ESTABLISH- 
MENTS 
AVERAGE  PRICE  OF  A  PARIS  GOWN 
WORKROOMS  OF  THE  GREAT  HOUSES 
DRESSMAKERS'  ASSISTANTS 
LOW  SCALE  OF  WAGES 
THE  FAMOUS  HOUSE  OF  PAQUIN 
HISTORY  OF  THE  MAISON  DOUCET 
DIFFICULT  ROLE  OF  THE  "  MANNEQUIN  ** 
FASHIONS  AND  HORSE  RACES 
LAUNCHING  NEW  STYLES 
LITTLE  "  MIDINETTES  " 
HOW  THE  DRESSES  ARE  DELIVERED 
THE  INDEPENDENT  AMERICAN 
SUPREMACY  OF  PARIS  THREATENED 
"  ACADEMIE  DES  MODES  " 
COMMERCIAL  IMPORTANCES  OF  PARIS  FASHIONS 


IX 


THE  MEN  DRESSMAKERS  OF  PARIS 
AND  LONDON 

The  kingdom  of  clothes  Is  In  the  heart  of  Paris,  a 
kingdom  of  extravagance  set  within  a  kingdom  of 
pleasure,  a  territory  bounded  by  the  Rue  Royale,  the 
Rue  Taitbout,  the  Chaussee  d'AntIn  and  the  Rue  de 
RIvolI.  It  Is  the  stronghold  of  feminine  fashions  and 
its  capitol  is  the  Rue  de  la  Palx,  the  Street  of  Peace 
indeed!  rather  It  is  the  Street  of  Strife,  a  place  of 
relentless  competition  in  an  attempt  to  please  a  fickle 
public. 

In  this  area,  too,  the  majority  of  the  money-spend- 
ing strangers  put  up,  for  Paris  fashion-makers  and 
Paris  hotels  of  the  super-luxurious  class  are  in  close 
relationship. 

Here,  within  the  space  bounded  by  a  few  city 
blocks,  are  quartered  the  world's  most  renowned 
masters  of  the  a^t  of  costume,  the  most  exclusive 
perfumers,  soap-makers,  artist-milliners  and  furriers, 
the  most  modish  corsetieres  and  the  most  expert 
lingeres,  the  most  chic,  most  brilliantly  seductive  and 
smartest  craftsmen  and  women  of  fashion's  realm. 
If  clothes  make  the  man,  how  much  more  do  they 
have  to  do  with  the  turning  out  of  that  highly  finished 
product,  the  woman  of  to-day? 

«3X 


232      THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

Here  in  the  world-famous  establishments  are  those 
equally  famous  creators  of  feminine  fashions,  the 
artistes  du  chiffon,  who  lay  their  brainy  talents  at  the 
feet  of  those  women  from  all  countries  who,  coming 
thither  on  a  common  mission,  here  meet  on  common 
ground,  to  be  adorned,  as  only  here  they  can  be 
adorned,  no  matter  what  the  cost. 

This  is  the  world's  Bourse  of  Fashion  and  Beauty, 
with  ticker  ribbons  of  real  silk,  in  whose  show-rooms 
the  competition  for  leadership  is  as  keen  as  on  the 
floor  of  the  Bourse  of  High  Finance  at  the  other 
end  of  Paris,  where  the  juggling  of  gold  and  stocks 
and  bonds  makes  possible  the  Bourse  of  Chiffons,  as 
the  French  themselves  name  It. 

The  sovereign  rulers — for  the  land  is  a  divided 
empire — are  kings,  not  queens;  the  celebrated 
couturiers,  the  masters  of  the  Ecole  de  Modes,  are 
men.  It  may  be  that  no  woman  has  sufficient  de- 
tachment from  self  to  do  justice  to  another  feminine 
personality,  though  It  was  only  recently  that  Madame 
Paquin — the  spouse  of  "  the  great  Paquin  " — was 
welcomed  to  that  exclusive  woman's  club.  La  Fran- 
galse,  by  the  Duchesse  de  Rohan,  who  hailed  her  with 
an  address  on  the  art  of  elegance  and  lauded  her  for 
her  generous  attitude  towards  the  working  girls  of 
the  Paquin  establishment. 

The  great  establishments  of  Doucet,  Felix,  Francis, 
Paquin,  Worth  and  Redfern  were  all  founded  by 
men  of  astute  perceptions  In  divining  the  needs  of 
woman  as  related  to  clothes.  And  yet  the  man  dress- 
maker is  a  recent  development  in  the  business  of  mak- 


MEN  DRESSMAKERS  233 

ing  fashions,  dating  back  only  to  the  sixties  and  the 
reign  of  the  Empress  Eugenie.  She  may  have  been 
responsible  for  the  loss  of  an  empire,  but  she  was  the 
instigator  of  the  modern  style  in  woman's  clothes. 

Curiously  enough,  it  was  the  Englishman,  Worth, 
who  invaded  Paris  with  new  ideas  in  woman's  dress 
and  established  there  the  first  masculine-controlled 
dressmaking  establishment.  It  was  he  who  first  con- 
ceived the  lucrative  combination  of  supplying  the 
material  and  the  confectioning  thereof.  From  this 
first  effort  of  the  English  draper's  clerk,  Charles 
Worth,  has  been  built  up  the  enormous  business  of 
the  Paris  man  dressmaker,  until  to-day  the  imprint 
of  one  of  these  Paris  ateliers  of  dress  has  become  the 
hall-mark  of  the  well-dressed  woman  of  the  world. 
The  man  dressmaker  of  Paris  is  thus  seen  to  be  an 
importation  in  the  first  instance,  and  this  would  seem 
to  prove  that  it  was  the  Paris  atmosphere,  rather 
than  the  individual,  that  has  given  the  product  its 
fame. 

Not  only  did  Paris  designers  follow  Worth's  lead 
from  the  first,  but  other  Englishmen  recognised  the 
statesman-like  qualities  that  foresaw  the  necessity  of 
using  Paris  as  a  base  of  operations,  so  that  to-day  the 
chief  of  the  great  London  houses  are  but  understudies 
to  their  Paris  headquarters.  Worth,  Paquin  and 
Redfern  labels  are  sewn  into  gowns  In  London  dress- 
making establishments  and  the  designs  of  the  parent 
house  are  followed,  but  only  after  the  seal  of  approval 
has  first  been  stamped  upon  them  by  a  critical  Pari- 
sian clientele. 


234      THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

The  show-rooms  of  the  leading  houses  in  the  trade 
are  luxurious  salons  de  reception  furnished  with  taste 
and  art,  served  by  a  staff  of  perfectly  dressed  assist- 
ants clothed  in  discreet  black,  as  a  foil  to  the  clients, 
and  possessed  of  gracious  manners.  They  are  there 
to  receive,  and  as  much  social  grace  and  tact  is  re- 
quired of  a  saleswoman  at  Paquin's  or  Doucet's  as 
of  a  maid  of  honour  at  court. 

The  methods  of  the  man  dressmaker  are  those  of  a 
maitre  (Tart.  He  studies  his  client  as  an  artist  studies 
his  motif.  Women  of  the  chic  heau  monde,  and  of 
the  ofttimes  equally  chic  demi-monde^  crowd  his  salons 
with  fluttering  hearts.  Will  the  great  designer  but 
think  them  worthy  of  his  choicest  inspiration?  These 
holders  of  the  sceptre  are  capricious;  not  always  will 
money  do  the  trick.  With  them  it  is  Art  with  a 
capital  A  and  their  masterpieces  must  have  the  correct 
setting,  otherwise  they  will  not  sell. 

The  head  of  the  Rue  de  la  Paix  establishment 
studies  his  beautiful  client  as  one  would  a  painting, 
in  the  most  favourable  light.  "  Come  again  to- 
morrow, madame."  Madame  loses  all  track  of  so- 
cial engagements  in  this  creative  period  of  a  costume 
and  is  on  time  the  next  day.  The  maitre  shakes  his 
head  sadly;  the  inspiration  has  not  yet  come. 
Madame  goes  away  disheartened;  perhaps  she  is  not 
worthy  I 

In  a  meditative  mood  monsieur  goes  for  his  daily 
drive  in  the  Bois.  It  is  autumn  and  the  Bois  is  all 
golden  against  a  sky  of  silver  grey.  **  Foila,  I  have 
it  I "     And  monsieur  hurries  back  to  his  entresol, 


MEN  DRESSMAKERS  ^35 

making  feverish  notes  on  the  way  and  madame's  cos- 
tume now  begins  to  form  itself. 

He  summons  his  head  designers  and  under  his 
personal  direction  the  delicate  fabrics  are  composed 
into  a  harmonious  whole.  When  madame  next 
arrives  on  the  scene  a  creation  awaits  her  in  gold  and 
brown — like  the  autumn  leaves,  veiled  in  delicate 
greys — like  the  autumn  mist  that  hangs  over  the  for- 
est pools,  "  and  that  are  deep  and  dark,  just  like 
madame's  eyes."  There  has  at  last  been  produced 
an  autumnal  symphony  that  does  justice  to  madame*s 
chdtain  beauty.  This  is  one  man's  method  of  pro- 
ducing masterpieces. 

Bond  Street  is  London's  centre  of  fashion.  "  The 
wealthiest  street  in  the  world,"  say  the  English,  a 
statement  more  complimentary  to  their  patriotism 
than  to  their  knowledge  of  things  elsewhere;  th^ 
wealthiest  street  of  its  length,  no  doubt.  This  radi- 
ating point  for  English  "  smartness  "  is  a  narrow, 
lane-like  passage  that  connects  the  fashionable 
thoroughfare  of  Piccadilly  with  the  commercial 
thoroughfares  of  Regent  and  Oxford  Streets.  It  was 
in  its  capacity  of  a  connecting  link  that  Bond  Street 
made  Its  fortune. 

The  English  man  designer  of  woman's  clothes  ex- 
cels In  the  composition  of  severe  lines.  It  was  Red- 
fern  who  popularised  the  tailor-made  gown  In  Paris, 
and  from  there  disseminated  it  throughout  the  world. 
There  is  a  house  of  Redfern  In  London,  but  It  is  a 
question  as  to  whether  the  Paris  establishment  does 
not  do  the  largest  trade.     Whether  it  is  that  clothes 


236      THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

follow  woman  or  that  woman  follows  clothes,  the 
supremacy  of  Paris  is  still  unquestioned. 

This  popularising  of  the  "  tailor-made  "  gained 
for  Redfern  the  sobriquet  of  ''  mmtre  de  la  ligne  " 
from  the  French.  He  is  known  by  the  smartest 
dressers  as  the  greatest  artist  of  all  the  famous  men 
designers;  that  is,  he  occupies  his  talents  in  bringing 
a  gown  into  harmony  with  the  natural  lines  of  the 
figure,  rather  than  to  the  exploiting  of  a  certain  style 
of  robe.  Much  of  his  inspiration  is  gained  from  a 
study  of  the  costumes  of  the  historic  past,  and  as  a 
designer  of  modes  for  the  theatre,  based  on  a  careful 
study  of  periods,  he  stands  unique  among  his  com- 
petitors. 

The  legend  of  the  tailor-made  suit  is  handed  down 
like  this :  Queen  Alexandra  and  the  royal  trunks  failed 
to  make  connections  on  the  occasion  of  a  certain 
ceremonious  dinner  at  a  brilliant  English  house-party. 
The  Queen,  too  gracious  to  spoil  her  hostess' 
plans,  resourcefully  directed  her  maid  to  cut  off  the 
skirt  of  her  riding  habit  (those  were  the  days  of 
the  trailing  habit),  for  the  royal  party  had  ridden 
across  country  on  horseback,  and  lightening  its  black- 
ness with  a  red  rose  thus  appeared  at  dinner  as  if 
nothing  had  happened. 

It  was  in  this  manner  that  the  distinctive  garment 
that  the  English  dressmaker  still  turns  out  better 
than  any  other  was  born. 

Sixty  per  cent  or  more  of  the  dressmaking  business 
done  in  that  half-mile  radius  of  which  the  Place 


MEN  DRESSMAKERS  237 

Vendome  In   Paris   Is  the  centre,   Is   for  a   foreign 
clientele. 

The  output  Is  further  categorled  thus:  Part  Is 
knowingly  sold  to  commission  agents  and  Intermedi- 
aries of  foreign  private  buyers;  still  other  portions 
to  English,  German  and  American  dressmakers,  and 
by  far  the  largest  sale  Is  to  foreigners  vislt'ng  Paris, 
perhaps  for  that  very  purpose.  The  Parisian  and 
French  provincial  clientele  actually  buy  but  a  bare 
third  of  the  output.  This  of  Itself  Is  out  of  all  propor- 
tion to  the  fame  of  the  well-dressed  Parisienne,  but 
proves  that  she  does  not  of  necessity  patronise  the 
makers  of  marque  alone.  It  is  a  well-recognised  fact 
that  most  of  the  makers  have  a  special  clientele 
which,  for  one  reason  or  another,  they  serve  at  prices 
considerably  below  those  usually  quoted. 

Possibly  ten  millions  of  francs  Is  a  figure  which 
to-day  covers  the  output  of  each  of  the  half-dozen 
most  famous  makers,  divided  among  four  or  five 
thousand  open  accounts,  some  of  them  of  small  mo^ 
ment,  but  others,  by  reason  of  the  social  or  other 
prominence  of  their  owners,  reaching  fabulous  sums. 
Publicity  Is  an  art  known  well  to  the  Paris  couturier. 
There  Is,  too,  among  them  a  sort  of  mysterious 
"  Dun*s  "  or  "  Bradstreet's  "  which  divides  the  good 
payers  Into  a  '^  Uste  blanche,**  the  average  payers  into 
a  *'  Uste  jaune ''  and  the  bad  payers  Into  a  ''  liste 
noire."  It  Is  said,  too,  that  not  all  of  those  of  the 
"  liste  noire  "  are  those  lowest  in  life's  station,  the 
contrary  being  chiefly  the  case.  A  well-defined  loss 
has  been  arrived  at  by  an  actuary  in  the  trade,  who 


238      THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

estimates  it  at  fifteen  per  cent.  Like  the  clients  of 
the  doctors  and  the  dentists  those  of  the  *^  liste 
blanche'*  of  the  dressmakers  pay  the  bills  for  those 
of  the  lists  "  jaunes ''  and  ''  noiresJ' 

An  enormous  business  has  been  developed  entirely 
from  the  example  of  Worth.  There  are  many  clients 
of  these  establishments  who  spend  readily  enough 
from  twenty-five  to  thirty  thousand  francs  in  ordering 
a  season's  gowns  at  one  or  another  of  these  now 
world-famous  establishments.  It  is  even  recounted 
that  a  fair  American  once  spent  the  sum  of  three 
hundred  and  fifty  thousand  francs  in  half  a  day  of 
choosing  and  commanding.  And  yet  it  is  said  that 
the  average  price  of  the  Paris-made  gown  is  but  seven 
hundred  francs.  It  must  be  that  they  make  up  in 
numbers  in  order  to  approach  the  fabulous  sums  which 
are  accredited  to  their  account. 

Into  the  total  thus  spent  silks  enter  to  the  pro- 
portion of  forty-six  per  cent,  laces  for  thirteen  per 
cent,  passementeries  for  eleven  per  cent,  furs  eight  per 
cent,  embroideries  seven  and  one-half  per  cent, 
feathers  for  two  per  cent,  the  various  other  ac- 
cessories, such  as  threads  and  linings  and  whalebones 
and  what  not,  for  the  remainder. 

The  ateliers  where  these  famous  Parisian  confec- 
tions are  turned  out  are  the  hives  where  many  grades 
of  working  women  and  girls  earn  a  livelihood,  a 
miserable  livelihood  many  of  them,  catering  for  the 
luxurious  tastes  of  the  rich.  In  the  first  rank  are 
the  coupeuses,  the  cutters,  who  parcel  out  the  stuffs 
according    to    given    measures.     Next    comes    the 


MEN  DRESSMAKERS  239 

appreteuses,  who  are  the  first  sewing  hands,  the  bas- 
ters;  then  the  mechaniciennes,  the  machine  stitchers; 
and  the  couseuses,  the  hand  sewers  who  do  the  finer 
work  and  are  called  picturesquely,  *^  les  petites  mains J^ 
The  making  of  a  gown  is  divided  further  among  four 
distinct  classes  of  workers,  the  corsagieres,  the 
garnisseuses,  the  jupieres  and  the  lingeres. 

The  wealthy  stranger  sees  nothing  of  this  but  a 
handsomely  furnished  apartment  where  the  models 
are  shown  and  an  equally  conveniently  arranged  salon 
d!essayage  peopled  by  a  score  or  more  of  attractively 
dressed  employees:  vendeuses,  port  toilettes,  manne- 
quins, fitters,  etc.  There  may  be  a  hundred  or  more 
working  unseen  in  gloomy  workrooms. 

The  principal  employees,  the  first  hands — the  pre- 
mieres, and  perhaps  the  mannequins  and  one  or  two 
of  the  other  privileged  classes,  earn  a  fair  competence 
as  a  result  of  their  month's  work,  but  the  thousands 
of  mere  working  girls  who  are  employed  in  the  in- 
dustry are  scarcely  better  off,  perhaps  not  so  well  off 
in  many  cases,  as  factory  workers.  For  twelve  hours 
or  more  a  day  the  more  expert  may  earn  as  much 
as  four  or  four  and  a  half  francs  at  the  maximum, 
though  the  wage  of  by  far  the  greatest  number 
hardly  rises  above  three  francs  while  there  is  work, 
and  then  there  is  always  the  dull  season  to  contend 
with  when  the  greater  part  of  the  workers  are  laid  off. 

Another  class  which  has  not  a  little  to  do  with  my 
lady's  Paris  gown  are  the  workers  in  chambers,  for 
a  lot  of  this  work,  supposedly  the  product  of  this 
famous  capital  of  beauty,  is  put  out  with  workers  in 


240      THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

a  dull,  frigid  mansard  chamber  where,  In  many  In- 
stances, a  wage  of  from  two  to  two  francs  and  a  half 
a  day  Is  considered  normal.  How  Indeed  does  the 
other  half  live? 

Paquin,  of  all  the  great  couturiers  of  Paris,  enjoys 
the  widest  International  reputation.  A  gown  from 
this  famous  house  may  be  considered  the  apotheosis 
of  modern  woman's  toilette.  France  thought  enough 
of  the  master's  services  to  decorate  him  with  the 
Grand  Cross  of  the  Legion  of  Honour,  and  now  that 
the  head  of  the  house  Is  dead  his  widow  Is  looking 
for  the  same  distinction.  There  are  serious-minded 
Frenchmen  who  ask  apprehensively,  *'  Will  the  high- 
est honour  In  our  land,  whose  badge  Is  a  bit  of  red 
ribbon  in  the  button-hole,  become  a  trade-mark  for 
a  couturier;  are  the  brains  of  our  country  falling 
wholly  to  the  heads  of  our  dressmaking  establish- 
ments ?  " 

Another  of  the  kings  of  the  Rue  de  la  Paix  is 
M.  Jacques  Doucet,  a  scholar,  an  artist,  an  elegant 
and  a  cultured  man  of  the  world,  habitue  of  Paris' 
most  exclusive  salons.  There  Is  scarcely  a  literary 
or  artistic  gathering  of  note  held  in  the  capital  but 
where  this  slim,  elegant  "  Louis  XIV  of  dressmakers," 
as  Paris  knows  him.  Is  not  an  honoured  guest.  He 
is  one  of  the  best  known  figures  in  Tout  Paris. 

The  Malson  Doucet  began  as  a  little  open  booth, 
selling  casquettes,  or  caps,  on  the  sidewalk  nearly  a 
hundred  years  ago.  When  Worth  set  the  vogue  of 
the  man  dressmaker  Doucet  was  one  of  the  first  In 
the  new  field  and  quickly  rose  to  the  premier  rank. 


MEN  DRESSMAKERS 


241 


It  Is  the  French  elegante  who  Is  the  chief  cus- 
tomer at  Doucet's,  more  so  even  than  the  foreigner. 
The  master's  styles  are  designed  chiefly  as  a  foil  to 
the  elusive  charms  of  the  Paris  mondaine. 

Art  has  often  allied  itself  with  commercialism. 
Du  Maurier  designed  the  still  used  label  on  the  bottle 


of  Apollinarls  water  and  the  Maison  Doucet  has  the 
distinction  of  having  had  its  first  catalogue  designed 
by  Daubigny,  that  most  sincere  of  French  landscapists 
of  the  men  of  the  thirties. 

Generation  after  generation  of  the  same  families 
of  work-people  succeed  each  other  chez  Doucet, 
Two  hundred  and  fifty  people  are  employed  there 
as  saleswomen,  fitters,  designers,  mannequins,  etc., 
besides  six  hundred  girls  in  the  workrooms  and  three 


242      THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

hundred  girls  who  do  work  for  the  house  at  their 
own  homes. 

The  mannequins  play  one  of  the  most  important 
roles  in  these  Palaces  of  Modes.  They  are  the  live 
"  dummies  '*  on  whom  are  displayed  the  costumes. 
All  day  long  they  must  promenade  the  salons  of  the 
establishments  where  they  are  employed,  revolving 
slowly  before  the  eyes  of  a  critical  battery  of  cus- 
tomers, that  the  effect  of  the  gown  may  be  better 
judged  on  a  living  figure  than  it  may  on  a  thing  of 
wires  and  papier-mache. 

Frequently  there  is  a  stage  upon  which  the  manne- 
quins play  their  parts,  parts  which  call  for  quite  as 
much  endurance  as  the  most  tragic  roles  of  the  real 
stage.  Endurance,  tact  and  skill  in  their  highest 
forms  are  all  called  for,  and  upon  the  ability  of  the 
mannequin  to  impress  the  buyer  with  the  graces  of  a 
particular  gown  depends  the  sale  quite  as  much,  in 
many  instances,  as  upon  the  skill  of  the  designer  or 
the  insinuations  of  the  salesman  or  woman.  The 
physical  and  mental  strain  is  unceasing.  From  nine 
in  the  morning  often  until  nine  at  night  the  manne- 
quin must  be  on  her  feet,  changing  from  one  costume 
to  another  at  the  caprice  of  the  most  erratic  of 
clients.  Her  position  and  advancement  depend  upon 
her  ability  to  clinch  sales.  All  her  natural  and  arti- 
ficial charms  are  brought  to  bear.  The  mannequins 
are  selected  for  their  svelt  figures  and  for  their  beauty 
of  face  as  well  as  of  form.  They  wear  a  tight-fitting, 
black  sheath  garment,  over  which  the  gowns  are 
shown. 


MEN  DRESSMAKERS  243 

A  mannequin  in  a  swell  establishment  is  paid  some- 
thing like  thirty  dollars  a  month,  perhaps  a  little 
more  if  her  reputation  as  a  seller  is  particularly  good. 
Another  service  which  she  renders  is  posing  in  public 
places  in  the  new  creations  of  her  employer  that  a  new 
fashion  may  be  well  launched  in  the  eyes  of  the 
public.  She  may  be  seen  at  Longchamps  on  the  day 
of  the  Grand  Prix,  at  Armenonville,  at  the  Pre 
Catelan,  indeed  wherever  fashion  congregates.  On 
the  occasion  of  the  Grand  Prix  she  is  generally  out 
in  full  force,  parading  in  the  paddock  as  in  the 
tribunes,  or  strolling  in  the  enclosure  reserved  for 
high  society.  She  will  perhaps  be  dressed  in  the  most 
bizarre  of  creations  and  be  followed  greedily  by  all 
eyes,  but  she  glides  along,  seemingly  unconscious  of 
the  throng  or  the  part  she  is  playing,  though  she 
divides  the  honours  with  the  horses  and  the  jockeys. 
All  feminine  Paris  studies  the  mannequins  on  parade 
at  Longchamps  greedily  and  on  the  verdict  does  a 
new  style  catch  on  or  fail.  Betting  on  the  success  of 
a  new  style  is  as  exciting  as  the  "  Pari-Mutuel ''  at 
the  Grand  Prix. 

The  little  midinettes,  who  get  their  name  from 
their  habit  of  promenading  the  streets  at  the  midday 
hour,  are  the  youngest  of  the  workers  in  the  dress- 
making establishments.  The  midinette  has  taken  the 
place  of  the  grisette  of  the  days  of  Murger  in  the 
imagination  and  affection  of  the  Parisian.  Arm  in 
arm  they  throng  the  pavements  of  the  great  arteries 
of  fashion  at  the  noon  rest  hour.  They  earn  the 
smallest  possible  of  living  wages,  not  more  than  a 


244      THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

franc  to  a  franc  and  a  half  for  a  day  of  twelve,  and 
sometimes  sixteen,  hours.  This  does  not  leave  much 
of  a  margin  for  food  and  so  they  content  themselves 
for  the  most  part  with  a  croissant  or  a  brioche,  eaten 
under  some  overhanging  doorway  or  on  a  bench  In 
the  Gardens  of  the  Tuilerles,  and  this,  with  a  swallow 
of  black  coffee  which  costs  but  a  couple  of  sous,  by 
some  mysterious  law  of  nature,  serves  to  keep  them 
so  cheerful  and  ingenious  of  mind  that  they  are  able 
to  costume  themselves  in  a  way  that  imitates  the  chic 
styles  in  dress  with  which  they  are  so  continuously 
brought  Into  contact. 

It  Is  a  dangerous  atmosphere  in  which  these  young 
girls  live  and  work,  spending  so  much  of  their  lives 
in  the  reflection  of  luxury  and  extravagance  and 
taking  their  pleasures  on  the  pavements  of  a  great 
city.  Paris  regards  them  sentimentally,  as  it  does 
most  feminine  questions  that  are  vital,  and  a  society, 
known  as  the  "  Ligue  de  Miml-Pinson,"  has  for  Its 
object  the  Improvement  of  the  conditions  which  sur- 
round the  little  midinette.  It  Is  too  weak  and 
sentimental,  however,  in  Its  motive  and  operation  to 
be  of  much  real  service  to  the  cause  which  it  sup- 
posedly represents,  its  chief  demonstration  of  activity 
being  evinced  in  the  annual  ball  which  it  gives  In 
order  to  secure  funds  for  its  work. 

Last  on  the  list  of  the  army  of  dressmakers'  helpers 
in  Paris  are  the  trottins  and  coursieres,  the  former 
name  being  more  particularly  applied  to  the  errand 
girls  of  the  milliners'  establishments,  and  the  latter 


MEN  DRESSMAKERS 


245 


to  those  of  the  dressmakers.  One  sees  either,  or 
both,  of  these  little  workers  at  all  hours  of  the  day 
laden  with  hat  or  costume  boxes  as  large  as  them- 
selves. These  are  carried  by  a  not  too  conveniently 
arranged  leather  strap,  and  by  such  means  is  the  bulk 


of  the  completed  work  of  the  makers  of  fashions 
delivered  to  their  clients'  homes. 

The  trottins  recently  went  on  strike  for  higher 
wages,  but  the  only  result  was  this  little  chanson  with 
which  the  trottins  and  coursieres  now  amuse  them- 
selves by  singing  as  they  trot  all  over  Paris  with  their 
big  boxes: 

"  Que  demande  une  petite  trottin 
De  chez  Worth  ou  de  chez  Paquin 


246      THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

Un  peu  plus  de  salarie, 
Molns  de  travail  a  faire 
Et  trols  coups  de  torchon. 
Vive  le  son,  vive  le  son. 
Bis,  bis,  bis." 

A  suit  recently  brought  in  Paris  against  one  of 
the  most  famous  of  the  men  dressmakers  threw  some 
light  on  conditions  in  the  trade  which  made  such 
apparently  excessive  charges  as  exist  necessary  to  the 
conduct  of  such  a  business.  Even  the  most  simple 
of  "  tailor-mades  "  is  an  expensive  proposition  in  a 
Paris  shop. 

This  was  what  the  evidence  showed:  The  cloth 
was  first  cut  and  measured  and  its  cost  estimated,  then 
the  cost  of  linings,  trimmings  and,  what  dressmakers 
the  world  over  call  furnishings,  was  carefully  com- 
puted, to  which  was  added  the  cost  of  the  hand  labour 
involved.  A  certain  sum  was  added  for  reputation 
and  another  for  professional  skill  in  designing  and 
fitting,  when,  finally,  to  this  lump  sum,  was  added 
another  sixty  per  cent  to  make  up  for  possible  errors. 
In  reality  the  latter  sum  was  added  to  make  good  the 
losses  on  non-liquidating  clients. 

Will  Paris  always  be  able  to  keep  in  the  ascendency 
as  arbiter  of  the  world's  modes?  There  are  signs 
of  uneasiness  and  fear  that  their  kingdom  of  fashion 
is  threatened  from  without.  These  Americans,  so 
rich  and  so  independent,  and  who  are  asserting  more 
and  more  each  season  this  same  independence,  and 
who  are  demanding  that  styles  be  adapted  to  their 


MEN  DRESSMAKERS  247 

standards,  will  they  not  take  some  stand  some  day 
that  cannot,  or  will  not,  be  met?  Has  the  Paris 
couturier  reason  to  dread  that  this  clientele,  whose 
bills  have  been  doubled  (and  as  readily  paid  as 
those  of  clients  of  any  other  nationality) ,  may  become 
too  Insistent  In  Its  demands,  and  finally  throw  down 
the  gauntlet  and  proclaim  that  the  productions  of 
Fifth  Avenue  more  than  rival  those  of  London  and 
Paris.  Is  the  Royaume  de  Paris  threatened  from 
Outre  Merf 

We  hear  rumours  that  It  Is  proposed  to  form  an 
Academle  des  Modes  to  be  composed  only  of  those 
masters  in  the  art  of  adorning  and  beautifying  woman- 
kind. This  association  is  to  have  for  its  object  the 
safeguarding  of  Paris  from  the  introduction  of  bas- 
tard fashions  from  across  the  frontiers.  The  list  of 
"  Immortels  "  of  this  academy  will  have  to  be  In- 
creased beyond  the  original  forty  who  now  sit  under 
the  dome  If  the  catholic  plan  Is  to  be  carried  out  of 
including  beauty  specialists,  painters  and  all  others 
interested  in  the  art  of  beautifying  and  lauding  the 
charms  of  woman.  The  keynote  that  Is  to  be  struck 
Is  of  course  that  it  must  be  French  taste  that  continues 
to  set  the  pace  in  the  race  of  fashions  and  that  there 
is  reason  to  suppose  that  the  French  as  a  whole  will 
be  able  to  combat  the  dreaded  Invasion. 

The  commercial  importance  of  the  output  of  Paris 
fashions  was  recently  well  Illustrated  in  a  startling 
way  when  a  member  of  the  Chamber  of  Deputies 
arose,  in  reply  to  a  diatribe  as  to  feminine  extrava- 
gance,   and   said,    "To   attack   the   coquetterie   of 


248      THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

woman  was  to  prejudice  a  national  Industry."  And 
yet  we  American  women  fondly  pride  ourselves  on 
the  Importance  of  the  position  we  hold  In  our  own 
national  affairs.  Has  ever  an  American  legislator 
arisen  In  favour  of  woman's  expenditure  In  dress? 

In  a  quarter  of  a  century  the  commerce  of  the  men 
dressmakers  In  London  and  Paris,  those  who  devote 
themselves  solely  to  the  confection  of  women's  toi- 
lettes, has  made  a  remarkable  progress  and,  unlike 
the  vogue  of  other  times.  It  Is  not  a  monarchlal 
society,  but  a  democratic  one  that  has  inflated  prices — 
the  French  hourgeoise  and  the  American  millionairess. 

Less  than  half  a  century  ago,  when  Worth  was 
court  dressmaker  to  the  Empress  of  the  French  and 
his  "  turn-over  "  of  affairs  was  something  like  five 
million  francs  a  year,  it  was  thought  an  Incompre- 
hensible sum  to  be  squandered  on  dress  with  the  con- 
nivance of  one  man.  To-day  the  combined  turn-over 
of  Paris  dressmaking  establishments  shows  an  annual 
business  of  two  hundred  and  fifty  million  francs, 
thanks  (and  it  is  the  French  themselves  who  say 
the  gentle  word)  to  "  les  transatlantiquesJ* 


IRF SOCIAL  SIDE 


EUROPE  DISCOVERS  THE  AMERICAN  GIRL 

INTERNATIONAL  SOCIAL  RELATIONS 

SOCIAL  AMENITIES  IN  THE  BRITISH  ISLES 

FRENCH  SOCIETY 

THE   ENIGMATIC    FRENCHWOMAN 

FORMALITY  THE   HEIGHT  OF  POLITENESS 

MANNERS  OF  CONTINENTAL  EUROPE 

ENGLISHWOMAN  THE   BEST   HOSTESS 

REAL  CHARM  OF  INTERCOURSE 

INQUISITIVE  FOREIGN  MIND 

GUESTS  IN  THE   ENGLISH   HOUSE 

TIPS  AT  HOUSE  PARTIES 

OPEN-AIR  PLEASURES  OF  SOCIETY 

FASHION   IN  THE   BOIS   DE   BOULOGNE 

AN  OUT-OF-DOOR  DRAWING-ROOM 

"  SENTIER  DE  LA  VERTU  " 

COUNTRY  LIFE  IN  ENGLAND 

WHERE  LONDON  SOCIETY  TAKES  ITS  AIRINGS 

"  CHURCH  PARADE  "  IN  HYDE  PARK 

ROYALTY  TAKES  ITS  TURN  IN  THE  PARK 

ETIQUETTE  OF  CALLS  IN  FRANCE 

CHAPERON  AND  YOUNG  GIRL 

THE   CRY   OF   LIBERTY 

THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  AND  THE  EUROPEAN  MAN 


X 

THE  SOCIAL  SIDE 

Having  exhausted,  at  least  to  her  own  satisfaction, 
the  charms  of  the  English  castles,  German  schlossen, 
French  chateaux  and  Italian  palazzi,  the  American 
woman  craves  to  know  something  of  the  intimate 
life  that  exists  behind  these  ancient  walls  from  some 
other  point  of  view  than  that  of  the  personally  con- 
ducted tourist  and  the  information  that  Baedeker 
can  give  her. 

If  she  did  but  realise  it,  Europe  is  as  anxious  to 
know  the  American  as  she  could  possibly  be  to  be- 
come acquainted  with  it. 

The  American  girl  has  at  last  been  discovered  in 
Europe  and  the  repute  of  her  charms  and  her  dol- 
lars have  penetrated  to  the  most  out-of-the-way  cor- 
ners, where  a  few  years  ago  not  even  the  solitary 
traveller  was  seen.  Europe  watches  with  interest  and 
curiosity  the  comings  and  goings  of  these  "  dollar 
princesses  "  who  make  no  attempt  to  travel  incognito 
in  their  triumphal  progress  across  Europe. 

Hypnotised  by  her  independence,  charmed  in  spite 
of  the  shocks  she  gives  to  their  traditions  and  con- 
ventions, they  regard  her  as  existing  outside  of  the 
etiquette  that  governs  their  own  femininity  as  much 
as  If  she  had  blown  in  from  another  planet.     Also 

251 


252      THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

they  are  beginning  to  differentiate  between  the  Eng- 
glish  "  Miss  "  and  the  American  ''  girl,"  and  are 
able  to  class  them,  which  is  a  better  proof  than  can 
be  put  forth  by  steamship  travel  statistics  of  the  in- 
crease in  American  travel  abroad. 

They  are  at  last  ready  to  gauge  her  by  her  own 
standards  instead  of  their  own,  a  concession  which 
shows  an  enlightenment  as  great  as  the  Renaissance 
that  followed  the  Dark  Ages  of  history. 

The  entry  into  social  life  is  easy  enough;  all  that 
is  needed  is  time  rather  than  opportunity.  Money 
makes  little  difference,  as  the  belief  is  current  among 
all  classes  that  all  Americans  are  millionaires;  this 
saves  one  the  trouble  of  exactly  defining  her  financial 
position.  Indeed,  they  could  not  be  convinced  to  the 
contrary,  for  does  not  the  American  schoolgirl  spend 
money  In  so  lavish  a  way  that  it  scandalises  the  head 
of  the  average  European  family?  The  lack  of  cal- 
culation that  Americans  display  in  the  spending  of 
money  is  one  of  the  most  amazing  traits  from  the 
point  of  view  of  a  people  who  make  every  cent  pro- 
duce results  in  a  tangible  form. 

When  curiosity  has  been  satisfied  and  the  novelty 
worn  off  there  is  little  in  common,  the  American 
finds,  between  herself  and  her  foreign  friends,  and 
acquaintance  seldom  warms  Into  friendship.  Funda- 
mental differences  exist  which  can  never  be  bridged 
over  except  by  a  superficial  and  formal  structure  of 
conventions  and  politeness,  which  is  not  strong  enough 
to  bear  the  burden  incidental  to  a  lasting  friendship. 
Social  International  relations  can  never  mean  much, 


THE  SOCIAL  SIDE  253 

as  America,  in  the  essentials,  Is  drawing  further  and 
further  away  from  European  Ideas. 

This  lack  of  assimilation  Is  as  noticeable  in  the 
British  Isles  as  In  a  land  where  another  language  still 
further  heightens  the  barrier.  Sometimes  It  seems 
possible  to  demonstrate  that  the  American  has  more 
In  common  with  the  French — at  least  In  temperament, 
while  again  certain  of  us  really  come  closer  In  touch 
with  the  Scotch ;  at  least  the  English  will  tell  one  that 
what  of  our  "  Americanisms  "  are  not  to  be  found 
in  Chaucer  are  lineally  descended  from  the  language 
of  the  Scot. 

English  society  welcomes  the  American,  though  they 
are  as  credulous  about  this  dollar  business  as  their 
neighbours  across  the  Channel.  It  is  but  natural  that 
the  American  should  be  most  in  evidence  in  Eng- 
lish society.  Theirs  was  the  shore  where  the  wave  of 
travel  first  landed  the  social  aspirant,  but  all  signs 
point  to  the  fact  that  the  ebb  tide  is  In  the  direction 
of  the  Continent.  An  amusing  fact  Is  that  the  social 
amenities  between  English  and  Americans  seem  to 
flourish  more  genially  when  they  band  together  for 
mutual  protection,  interests  and  pleasures  on  the  com- 
mon meeting-ground  of  a  foreign  country. 

French  social  life  is  not  only  formal,  but  the  enter- 
tainment to  be  got  from  it  Is  thin.  As  with  every 
move  In  their  game  of  life  things  are  done  by  rote  and 
at  no  time  is  there  any  evidence  of  spontaneity. 

It  seems  impossible  to  be  friendly  with  a  French- 
woman ;  her  blend  of  sophistry  and  childishness  in  the 
wrong  proportions  Is  confusing  to  any  just  estimate 


254      THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

of  her  character.  When  it  is  possible  to  pierce  the 
veneer  of  formality  she  appears  even  more  of  an 
enigma.  This  is  perhaps  her  real  charm — her  Sphinx- 
like quality;  for  what  she  really  thinks  ever  remains 
a  lock  to  which  the  outsider  has  no  key. 

Conversation  is  cut  after  a  set  pattern  which  has 
come  down  from  the  time  of  the  Louis'  along  with 
the  arrangement  of  the  drawing-room  furniture.  Be- 
ginning at  the  fireplace  the  chairs  are  arranged  in 
two  rows  down  the  salon  facing  each  other,  the 
hostess  sits  at  the  top  of  the  row  and  next  to  her 
the  important  guests,  dwindling  down  in  social  im- 
portance to  the  end.  It  is  all  reminiscent  of  a  chil- 
dren's game  and  scarcely  makes  for  cordiality.  This 
arrangement  holds  good  in  the  most  unpretentious 
household. 

If  Madame  is  modish  she  will  have  adopted  the 
custom  of  serving  tea  and  the  accompanying  cakes  and 
bonbons;  if  it  is  in  the  provinces  it  will  more  likely 
be  some  sweet  syrupy  wine  and  biscuits,  or  sweet 
crackers. 

If  one  gets  to  the  stage  of  the  causerie  in  time 
Madame  will  receive  in  her  boudoir,  extended  on  a 
chaise-longue.  She  won't  mind  asking  the  most  dis- 
concertingly frank  questions  about  your  most  intimate 
affairs,  from  the  size  of  your  income  to  your  opinion 
of  your  husband,  which  is  all  the  more  remarkable 
as  they  are  rarely  communicative  about  their  own 
personal  affairs  with  a  stranger.  This  desire  for 
knowledge  is  on  a  par  with  the  curiosity  that  prompts 
one  to  prod  the  animals  in  the  Zoo. 


THE  SOCIAL  SIDE  255 

Formality  Is*  the  highest  form  of  politeness  with 
the  French.  The  more  coldly  distant  in  his  manner 
Is  the  Frenchman  the  more  he  Is  demonstrating  his 
politeness  and  high  regard.  It  Is  not  good  form  to 
stare  Into  the  eyes  of  a  respectable  woman,  thus  he 
pays  you  the  compliment  In  conversation  of  playing 
his  glances  all  about  you  In  an  Impersonal  way  which 
Is  quite  an  art;  In  this  respect  his  society  manners 
and  those  of  the  Arab  are  the  same. 

In  European  society  It  Is  still  de  rigueur  for  the 
gentleman  to  kiss  the  lady's  hand  on  entering  and 
leaving  the  drawing-room.  It  is  only  a  stage  kiss 
anyway,  but  the  Frenchman  and  the  Russian  par- 
ticularly have  set  the  fashion.  French  manners  are 
the  basis  of  good  manners  all  over  Continental  Eu- 
rope, tinged  though  they  may  be  by  local  mannerism, 
and  the  manners  of  the  Paris  salon  are  still  the  stan- 
dard for  polite  society. 

All  French  families  of  any  standing  have  an  ances- 
tor that  was  beheaded  during  the  Revolution,  a  fact 
which  Is  as  useful  as  the  prefix  de  In  establishing 
their  aristocracy.  "LIberte,  Egalite  and  Frater- 
nlte  "  have  a  significance  only  in  the  political  world; 
society  and  the  woman,  no  matter  whether  under  a 
president  or  a  monarch,  is  never  other  than  an 
aristocracy. 

To  the  Englishwoman  must  be  awarded  the  palm 
of  being  the  best  hostess.  The  English  entertain 
more  Intelligently  than  any  other  people.  The  Eng- 
lishwoman is  accused  of  being  cold  and  indifferent 
towards    the   social    entertainment    of    her    guests, 


256      THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

whereas  instead  of  following  up  guests  with  atten- 
tions in  a  way  that  would  simply  emphasise  the  fact 
that  they  were  only  guests,  she  gives  them  the  freedom 
of  the  house  to  use  as  if  it  was  their  own.  Instead 
of  being  burdened  continually  by  a  feeling  of  respon- 
sibility on  one  hand,  and  obligation  on  the  other, 
hostess  and  guest  are  mutually  independent,  and  that 
real  charm  of  intercourse — freedom — is  maintained. 

The  complaint  is  heard  that  the  English  house- 
party  is  as  non-personal  as  life  at  a  hotel;  whereas 
the  actual  case  is  that  the  Englishman  has  freely 
opened  his  house  to  you  and  therein  you  have  the 
same  right  for  the  time  being  as  himself. 

One  is  invited  to  the  English  house  for  a  certain 
number  of  days,  told  even  what  train  to  take.  A 
carriage  meets  one  at  the  station.  Whether  there 
be  a  house-party  or  not  you  are  only  first  met  by 
servants  and  shown  to  your  rooms,  from  which  you 
descend  at  your  leisure,  perhaps  only  at  five  for  tea. 
It  is  etiquette  to  arrange  a  guest's  arrival  to  coincide 
as  nearly  as  possible  with  the  tea  hour,  at  which  func- 
tion, served  in  summer  on  the  lawn  and  in  winter  in 
the  entrance  hall,  one  first  meets  her  hosts  and  any 
other  guests.  One  rarely  sees  the  host  before  lunch- 
eon, after  which  amusements  are  devised  for  the 
guests,  which  they  can  accept  or  not  as  they  like,  but 
if  your  hosts  see  you  at  dinner  and  exchange  a  few 
words  in  the  evening  it  is  as  much  as  can  be  expected 
in  a  big  house  full  of  people. 

The  maid  unpacks  one's  bag  and  lays  out  what 
clothes  she  thinks  you  may  need  without  any  tiresome 


THE  SOCIAL  SIDE  257 

questions  and  will  further  give  one  as  much  personal 
service  as  may  be  needed. 

The  bugbear  of  English  visits  is  supposed  to  be 
the  tips.  It  is  doubtful  if  their  exactions  are  any 
greater  than  the  same  thing  at  home.  English  people 
themselves  will  tell  one  that  they  can't  afford  to  visit 
their  best  friends  on  account  of  this  same  question  of 
tips,  and  yet  others  who  are  on  the  visiting  lists  of 
noble  earls  declare  that  there  is  nothing  to  it;  that 
they  give  the  maid  who  fastens  up  their  gowns  ten 
shillings  when  they  leave  and  that  is  all.  There  is 
something  in  knowing  how  to  do  it,  but  the  guest 
across  the  water,  ticketed  by  the  sometimes  incon- 
venient reputation  for  wealth,  would  probably  not  get 
off  so  easily.  Some  conscientious  hostesses  go  so  far 
as  to  put  up  notices  in  the  guest-rooms  to  the  effect 
that  no  tips  are  to  be  given,  which  suggest  a  cheap 
lunch  place  and  is  about  as  effective. 

The  social  season  of  all  the  European  capitals 
extends  well  into  the  summer,  and  are  all  character- 
ised by  open-air  pleasures  that  do  much  towards 
breaking  up  the  ordinary  conventional  round. 

From  Easter  to  the  National  holiday — the  four- 
teenth of  July — is  the  apogee  of  the  social  round 
in  Paris,  when  the  Bois  de  Boulogne  becomes  the 
open-air  drawing-room  of  Parisian  society,  and  the 
green  Allee  des  Acacias  becomes  the  stage  for  the 
gay  drama  of  mondaine  world. 

From  four  to  six  every  one  makes  for  the  Bois  by 
way  of  the  Avenue  des  Champs-Elysees.  Private 
automobiles  and  horse-drawn  turn-outs,  filled  with  the 


258      THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

best-gowned  women  of  the  world,  circle  the  winding 
drives  of  the  Bois,  but  not  so  fast  that  the  costumes 
cannot  be  noted.  They  make  the  round  of  the  Bois, 
stopping  at  Armenonville  for  an  ice  or  the  customary 
''iive  o'clock^ 

[The  most  fashionable  promenade  is  the  "  Sentier 
de  la  Vertu."     Only  the  fine  essence  of  esprit,  or 


the  delicate  sense  of  irony  underlying  the  French 
character,  could  have  evolved  this  name  of  ''  path  of 
virtue'^  for  a  park  walk.  Here  the  cream  of  the  two 
worlds  of  Paris  comes  for  a  constitutional  before 
lunch.  High-born  ladies,  and  the  high-priced  demi- 
monde equally  haughty,  draw  up  in  autos  or  low- 
swung  victorias,  descend  and  promenade  under  the 
fragrant  blooms  of  the  chestnuts  or  sit  in  the  uncom- 
fortable little  iron  chairs.  In  these  chairs  the  curious 
onlooker  may  also  sit  upon  payment  of  two  sous, 
and  study  the  moves  in  the  social  game  at  first  hand. 
Here  friends  rendezvous,  engagements  are  made 


THE  SOCIAL  SIDE  259 

for  those  flirtations  that  the  Frenchwoman  ac- 
complishes with  such  charm  and  discretion;  there  are 
also  others  not  so  discreet.  It  is  this  intermingling 
of  the  two  elements  that  produce  one  of  the  anom- 
alies of  Paris  life. 

Not  far  away  is  the  bridle-path — the  "  Allee  des 
Cavaliers" — where  not  a  few  "  Amazones  "  (to  use 
the  rather  exaggerated  French  name)  are  cantering 
along  with  their  escorts.  The  craze  for  things  Eng- 
lish since  the  ^'entente  cordtale**  went  into  effect 
has  put  the  Frenchwoman  on  horseback,  but  she  Is 
not  really  fond  of  it,  as  the  Englishwoman's  strenuous 
exercise  has  little  attraction  for  her.  Under  every 
woman's  arm,  or  running  shiverlngly  beside  her.  Is  a 
tiny  toy  dog.  These  "  toutous'*  which  they  Invari- 
ably call  ''  petite  coco  cheriey  are  as  much  the  In- 
separable companion  of  the  Frenchwoman  as  her 
hat. 

On  Sundays  the  Bols  is  deserted  by  the  society 
element  in  favour  of  the  bourgeoisie.  The  Bois  Is 
no  longer  chic  on  that  day;  It  is  the  family  day,  when 
all  the  middle-class  world  of  Paris  takes  a  camp- 
stool  under  one  arm  and  a  lunch  basket  under  the 
other  (no  wasteful  hiring  of  chairs  for  them)  and 
literally  spends  the  day,  coming  early  and  staying 
late. 

English  social  life  Is  just  the  reverse  of  what  usu- 
ally holds  good  in  France.  The  English  family 
makes  Its  home  In  the  country  and  moves  into  town 
for  a  brief  period,  instead  of  living  In  the  city  and 
making  the  country  the  Incidental  part  of  the  social 


26o      THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

season.  Consequently  the  stay  in  London  is  purely 
a  social  business  which  the  English  family  feels  called 
upon  to  go  through  with  as  one  goes  to  a  fashionable 
resort,  and  this  point  of  view  makes  possible  the 
growing  custom  of  simply  taking  a  suite  of  rooms  in 
one  of  the  big  hotels  instead  of  opening  a  town  house. 
Besides  it  makes  for  economy,  and  the  sight  is  becom- 
ing common  of  titled  ladies  sweeping  around  hotel 
corridors  afternoons  in  full  court  dress  on  their  way 
to  a  "  drawing-room  "  in  the  season. 

Hyde  Park  does  not  make  such  an  extensive  nor 
beautiful  pleasure  ground  as  the  Bois,  but  no  matter 
what  may  be  the  weather  London  society  still  uses  it 
as  a  parade  ground.  The  Englishwoman  goes  along 
Rotten  Row  every  morning,  followed  by  a  correct 
groom  at  the  regulation  distance.  The  riding  hour 
on  Rotten  Row  is  the  most  popular  of  the  day,  and 
here  can  be  seen  the  smartest  of  the  smart  set  and 
the  best-groomed  horsewoman  in  the  world  as  she 
shows  up  at  her  best. 

The  correct  equipage,  with  pompous  coachman  and 
footman  in  powdered  wigs  and  high-stepping  pair, 
still  remains  the  traditional  gentleman's  vehicle;  the 
automobile  by  no  means  conveys  to  the  minds  of  the 
crowd  the  same  amount  of  pomp  and  circumstance  as 
is  evoked  by  the  traditional  coach  and  pair,  par- 
ticularly if  there  be  an  earl's  coronet  emblazoned 
thereon. 

Neither  is  the  plebeian  numbered  hack  for  hire 
allowed  on  the  drive  during  these  hours  when  society 
takes  its  airings.    Ways  are  provided  for  the  visitor 


THE  SOCIAL  SIDE  261 

to  get  over  this  difficulty;  the  hotels  will  hire  out  to 
one  an  imitation  private  carriage;  all  livery  stables 
provide  for  this  contingency,  and  even  the  Blooms- 
bury  boarding-house  keeps,  or  can  get,  a  "  private 
brougham  "  that  can  be  rented  by  Its  guests  and 
pass  the  scrutiny  of  the  policeman  at  the  Albert 
Gate. 

Hyde  Park  on  Sundays  sees  that  peculiar  Eng- 
lish society  function — the  *'  church  parade."  This  is 
a  more  Intimate  occasion,  and  the  "  Sentier  de  la 
Vertu  "  of  the  Bois  would  not  be  out  of  place  trans- 
ferred to  London,  for  everybody  hastens  here  after 
church  to  promenade,  prayer-book  in  hand,  among  the 
budding  crocuses  and  narcissi  in  a  silver-grey  spring 
noon.  There  Is  none  of  the  contagious  gaiety  of  the 
French  crowd,  but  the  decorous,  well-bred  English 
throng  is  able  to  hide  any  dubiousness  under  a  Sab- 
bath-day varnish.  "Look  respectable  and  you  will 
be  happy  "  Is  the  English  creed. 

Friends  sit  in  groups  on  the  penny  chairs,  discuss 
plans  for  the  coming  week,  engagements,  temporary 
and  for  life,  are  manoeuvred  by  mammas,  and  the 
Sunday  church  parade  is  often  used  to  introduce  a 
daughter  to  the  social  world.  After  this  every  one 
goes  home  to  a  roast-beef  dinner.  The  French  course 
dinner  Is  not,  even  in  fashionable  circles,  succeeding 
in  separating  the  English  family  from  its  favourite 
dish. 

By  five  o'clock  the  carriages  are  so  densely  massed 
that  It  IS  only  by  courtesy  It  could  be  called  driving. 
Royalty  drives  out  with  the  rest.    The  rumour  that 


262      THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

the  King  is  coming  causes  all  the  carriages  to  line  up 
courteously  to  allow  the  passage  of  the  royal  landau 
drawn  by  two  horses,  marked  as  to  its  royal  func- 
tions only  by  the  royal  red  coats  of  the  coachman  and 
couple  of  footmen  at  the  back. 

If  one  wishes  to  enter  the  social  life  of  a  French 
community  the  burden  of  taking  the  initiative  rests 
with  the  newcomer.  She  Is  expected  to  make  the 
first  calls,  but  these  are  promptly  returned.  After 
the  second  round  of  calls  the  stranger  will  know 
where  she  stands,  for  if  the  acquaintanceship  is  not 
desired  the  call  is  not  returned.  The  French  have  a 
system  that  provides  for  this.  The  proprietor  from 
whom  the  house  may  have  been  leased  or  bought,  or, 
in  the  case  of  a  doctor  or  a  professional  man — his 
predecessor,  furnishes  them  with  a  list  of  the  desi- 
rable people  who  occupy  the  correct  social  standing. 
Thus  in  the  end  the  power  of  selection  lies  with  the 
majority,  which  may  be  logical  though  it  places  the 
stranger  at  a  disadvantage. 

In  many  respects  the  French  are  slower  to  open  up 
their  home  to  one  than  the  English,  for  they  rather 
shrink  from  a  new  element  that  may  possibly  disturb 
the  calm  routine  of  their  domesticity. 

"  Chez  elle  " — with  herself — that  untranslatable 
synonym  for  a  woman  at  home  in  France,  expresses 
something  even  more  intimate  than  the  English  home. 
The  soft  cream  tint  of  the  French  house,  with  its 
formal  row  of  pale-grey  shutters,  always  closed,  the 
high  walls  that  enclose  the  garden  and  the  high  iron 
gates,  backed  with  wooden  or  Iron  doors — all  seem 


o 
o 

Q 


3 

o 


O 
CO 


THE  SOCIAL  SIDE  263 

symbolical  of  the  closely  guarded  inner  life  of  the 
French  bourgeoisie. 

Even  In  France  chaperonage  Is  relaxing  to  some 
extent;  the  same  Is  true  of  even  Its  most  conservative 
strongholds,  though  freedom  for  the  young  girl,  as 
It  is  understood  In  America,  does  not  exist  as  yet 
anywhere  in  Europe.  In  that  most  sophisticated 
social  life,  that  of  the  French  upper  classes,  the  in- 
fluence of  the  young  person,  once  practically  nil,  is 
beginning  to  be  felt.  She  no  longer  keeps  her  eye- 
lids lowered  when  spoken  to  by  a  man,  and  at  dances 
she  boldly  allows  her  partner  to  lead  her  out  for  a 
breath  of  air  on  a  balcony — but  still  not  for  long. 
The  old  French  ruling  that  a  young  girl  should  not 
walk  out  even  with  her  brother — for  how  should  the 
wicked  world  know  that  he  was  her  brother — is  be- 
coming obsolete,  and  family  groups  of  brothers  and 
sisters  do  go  in  company  together  on  picnic  outings 
and  daylight  amusements.  The  cry  of  the  French 
girl  for  liber te  Is  being  heard.  It  is  true  (and  that 
she  makes  it  at  all  is  a  forward  move) ,  but  not  much 
attention  is  being  paid  to  It.  The  curiosity  and  wlst- 
fulness  with  which  she  regards  the  American  girl 
with  whom  she  is  brought  in  contact  is  amusing  and 
pathetic,  and  she  Is  not  heard  criticising  their  bold- 
ness as  frequently  as  do  English  girls. 

Young  people's  society  is  rather  insipid  for  the 
American  girl,  once  her  curiosity  is  abated;  running 
amuck  of  its  trivial  formalities  and  intricacies  of 
language  does  not  make  for  pleasure.  Truth  to  tell, 
she  gets  on  better  with  the  European  man. 


264      THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

The  American  man  rather  expects  a  pretty  girl 
to  entertain  him,  in  return  for  much  candy,  auto- 
mobile rides  and  a  general  putting  himself  usefully 
at  her  disposal.  But  the  European  man  is  trained  to 
be  agreeable  to  women  and  the  practice  of  the  small 
arts  of  conventional  intercourse  is  a  result  of  a 
large  part  of  his  training — in  many  cases  the  major 
part.  The  freedom  and  self-poise  of  the  American 
woman  fascinates  him  quite  as  much  as  his  deferential 
attitude  and  charming  manners  do  her.  This,  en- 
hanced by  the  golden  halo  that  he  invariably  sees 
about  her  head,  inspires  him  to  put  forward  his  best 
efforts  to  entertain  her. 

Not  a  little  of  the  interest  that  he  inspires  in  the 
American  girl  often  comes  from  a  brilliant  uniform 
and  an  authentic  title.  This,  to  begin  with,  makes 
him  frame  in  so  exceedingly  well  with  the  rest  of 
the  picture  in  her  imagination,  and  it  is  the  same 
imagination  that  he  touches  in  many  ways.  He  draws 
his  heels  together  with  a  military  click  and  kisses  her 
hand  deferentially  at  meeting  and  parting.  No  one 
does  that  at  home — in  public  at  least — and  the  little 
ceremony  invests  one  with  a  certain  importance. 
That  his  conversation  takes  a  daring  turn  is  often 
because  of  unwitting  encouragement  by  one  who  is 
conscious  of  her  ability  to  shut  this  sort  of  thing  off 
if  it  passes  the  limits.  But  a  radical  difference  be- 
tween home  and  abroad  is  that  the  American  man 
can  be  made  to  feel  ashamed  of  himself^the  for- 
eigner— never. 

It  rather  worries  the  Englishman  that  the  Ameri- 


THE  SOCIAL  SIDE  265 

can  woman  talks  so  much.  He  does  not  understand 
this  voluble  flow  of  talk,  whether  about  something 
or  nothing,  that  she  knows  Is  necessary  to  her  popu- 
larity at  home,  and  It  sometimes  happens  that  he  Is 
slow  to  appreciate  her  amiable  efforts  to  please.  She 
is  not  so  much  of  a  novelty  to  him  as  to  the  men  of 
Continental  Europe;  besides  he  Is  In  the  habit  of  tak- 
ing the  lead  and  being  listened  to,  and  he  finds  It  a 
little  wearisome  to  follow  the  conversational  thread 
through  the  mazes  and  quick  turnings  given  to  it  by 
the  versatile  American  woman.  But  if  given  a  chance 
he  will  take  pains  and  can  play  the  part  of  an  agree- 
able host.  Properly  chaperoned  he  will  Invite  her  to 
tea  in  his  "  chambers  "  in  London  or  at  Oxford  or 
Cambridge  (If  he  be  an  undergraduate)  and  pour 
tea  himself;  but  she  will  not  be  expected  to  go  to 
the  hotel  or  restaurant  alone  with  him  for  tea,  nor 
to  the  theatre,  without  some  kind  of  a  shadowy 
third,  though  it  Is  true  that  being  an  American  cov- 
ers many  indiscretions. 

But  the  afternoon  tea  is  the  pivot  around  which 
the  social  life  of  England  revolves,  a  function  that 
can  be  made  intimate  or  formal  at  will.  Tea  is  served 
in  the  afternoon,  not  for  the  visitor  but  as  a  part  of 
the  daily  routine,  and  one  expects  It  quite  as  much  as 
a  matter  of  course  as  the  shakings  of  the  hand.  Noth- 
ing is  quite  so  pleasant  as  the  tea  hour  before  the 
open  fire,  when  the  rain,  the  slow,  sure,  continuous 
rain  of  the  British  Isles,  turns  everything  mlsty- 
moisty.  The  teapot  is  kept  warm  under  Its  padded 
cosey,  the  buttered  muffins  are  hot  in  their  covered 


266      THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

dish,  the  plum  cake  is  all  plums.  It  is  the  hour  when 
the  Enghsh  friend  unbends  to  intimate  talk  under  the 
shaded  lamps.  America  is  transplanting  the  custom, 
but  it  can  never  be  the  same  as  in  England — the  at- 
mosphere— and  the  climate — both  are  lacking. 


cult  of  pleasure 

pleasure  resorts  of  europe 

biarritz,  the  haunt  of  royalty 

spain  summers  at  san  sebastian 

fox-hunting  and  bull-fights 

air  line  from  paris  to  madrid 

spanish  society 

trouville-deauville,  the  newport  of  france 

England's  riviera 

brighton  and  its  bath  chairs 

LUXURIOUS  OSTENDE 

BATHING  MACHINES 

DUTCH  SOCIETY  GOES  TO  SCHEVENINGEN 

GAY    AIX-LES-BAINS 


LUCERNE  AND  ITS   EMBROIDERY  SHOPS 

MEDITERRANEAN  CHAIN  OF  WINTER  RESORTS 

THE  RIVIERA  QUARTETTE 

THE   woman's   paradise 

ARISTOCRATIC  CANNES 

NICE  THE   BEAUTIFUL 

"  PETITS  CHEVAUX  " 

A  COUNTRY  DEVOTED  TO  PLEASURE 


XI 


CITIES  OF  PLEASURE— EUROPEAN 
WATERING-PLACES 

The  Cult  of  Pleasure  occupies  an  important  place 
in  the  scheme  of  things  European;  with  us  it  is  only 
an  incident  which  enters,  like  many  others,  into  our 
lives.  We  still  feel  a  little  ashamed  to  be  overjoy- 
ous  at  home ;  indeed  the  means  of  enjoying  ourselves 
is  woefully  lacking,  and  it  is  not  always  possible  to 
get  some  one  to  "  play  with  us,"  nor  are  playgrounds 
sufficiently  numerous  to  hold  for  long  the  mercurial 
American  who  craves  the  champagne-like  exhilaration 
of  novelty.  Neither  Palm  Beach  nor  Atlantic  City 
(Newport  does  not  count  for  the  masses)  stand  for 
anything  against  the  dazzling  array  of  pleasure  re- 
sorts across  the  water,  with  their  cosmopolitan  cloud 
of  revolving  satellites. 

It  is  at  this  moment,  when  we  crave  amusement 
the  most,  that  we  pack  our  trunks  and  take  the 
fastest  steamer  for  some  European  port.  That  old 
English  idea  that  the  "  grand  tour  "  of  Europe  was 
necessary  to  complete  the  education  of  a  gentleman 
has  become  modified  by  the  modern  woman  to  include 
these  three  things — change,  relaxation  and  pleasure. 
A  study  of  man  and  womankind  is  quite  as  much  of 
an  education  at  times,  and  often  a  good  deal  more 

?69 


270      THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

amusing,  than  to  keep  one's  nose  always  burled  In  a 
guide-book  amidst  the  malaria  of  stale  facts.  Such 
an  elusive  thing  as  pleasure  must  be  hunted  down 
with  wisdom.  Europe  has  the  secret  and  Is  ready 
for  the  pleasure-seeker  with  a  chain  of  pleasure  cap- 
itals that  Is  never  ending. 

The  English  expression,  "watering-place,''  has  a 
rather  bucolic  sound.  That  of  the  French  is  better; 
"  ville  d'eau  '^  is  certainly  prettier  and  more  Imagina- 
tive, far  more  so  than  the  German  spa.  All,  how- 
ever, spell  pleasure. 

The  gayest,  most  worldly,  most  fashionable  of 
these  resorts  are  in  France.  This  may  be  due  to  the 
Gallic  temperament  and  surroundings,  for  France  Is 
not  afraid  to  promote  those  risque  amusements  that 
add  a  piquancy  to  the  frivolous  life  of  the  gadabout 
that  a  more  conventional  nation  Is  apt  to  banish  from 
home,  though  her  peoples  are  quite  ready  to  seek 
them  out  under  the  French  tricolour. 

"  Liberty,  Equality,  Fraternity  "  arc  words  which 
mean  what  they  say  and  are  truly  to  be  applied  to 
French  pleasure  resorts. 

France  has  the  greatest  variety  of  climate  of  any 
European  country.  This  also  makes  possible,  and 
profitable,  her  great  array  of  pleasure  resorts.  All 
the  world  must  come  to  her  exquisite  Mediterranean 
winter  resort — the  Riviera — in  spite  of  the  counter 
attractions  of  Egypt,  Tunis  and  Algeria.  For  all 
the  year  round  watering-places  there  are  none  that 
rank  beside  those  of  the  equable  climate  of  the  French 
slopes  of  the  Pyrenees.     As  a  summer  bathing-place 


CITIES  OF  PLEASURE  ^71 

of  an  ultra-fashionable  type,  nothing  approaches 
Trouville.  For  the  most  approved  modern  *'  Cure'* 
which  can  be  taken  in  full  dress,  so  to  speak,  Alx-les- 
Balns,  In  the  beautiful  French  Alps,  has  no  peer, 
unless  It  be  Vichy  In  mid-France.  There  are  dozens 
of  other  springs  and  baths  here,  too,  whose  repute 
Is  based  more  modestly  only  on  their  health-giving 
properties.  Paris,  for  long  the  only  great  city  of 
pleasure,  still  draws  all  classes  of  amusement  seekers 
to  her,  and  a  centrifugal  force  throws  them  off 
again  tangently  all  over  Europe  on  the  same  joyous 
quest. 

Americans  are  only  beginning  to  know  Biarritz,  In 
the  Basque  country,  the  furthermost  corner  of  south- 
western France,  hemmed  in  between  the  purple 
Pyrenees  and  the  mists  which  roll  up  off  the  Bay  of 
Biscay.  Biarritz  prides  Itself  upon  its  exclusiveness ; 
so  fearful  has  It  been  of  a  contaminating  popularity 
that  It  is  only  within  a  few  months  that  It  has  en- 
joyed the  luxury  of  direct  railway  communication 
with  the  outside  world.  Fashion  first  went  to  Biar- 
ritz by  private  carriage,  then  by  automobile,  but  now 
it  goes  by  rail  without  change  of  cars. 

From  the  beginning  royalty,  as  much  as  any  other 
element,  has  made  Biarritz  famous.  The  late  Ed- 
ward VII  set  the  recent  fashion,  for  he  never  cared 
for  the  French  Riviera;  Leopold,  king  of  the  Bel- 
gians, of  gay  memory,  had  too  much  pre-empted  that 
land  of  the  Roulette  Wheel  as  his  own  special  hunt- 
ing ground,  and  It  is  also  whispered  that  formerly 
there  was  a  too  much  emphasised  maternal  solicitude 


272      THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

radiating  from  Cimlez'  Grand  Hotel,  above  Nice, 
where  Queen  Victoria  used  to  winter.  Thus  it  was 
that  Albert  Edward  when  he  became  Britain's  king 
picked  on  Biarritz,  with  its  soft,  mild  air,  as  an 
antidote  to  the  raw  springtime  of  his  homeland.    He 


also  found  it  a  congenial  place  to  which  to  retire  with 
a  circle  of  choice  friends. 

Where  the  King  goes  society  follows;  Individual 
preference  Is  sunk  in  the  loyal  obedience  to  that  which 
has  the  stamp  of  royal  approval.  The  English, 
once  having  got  in  the  habit,  still  come  in  crowds 
to  Biarritz. 

From  San  Sebastian,  Spain's  royal  resort  just  across 
the  border  from  Biarritz,  Alfonso,  the  Spanish  Mon- 
arch, used  to  come  frequently  to  visit  his  English 
brother  King.     The  royal  automobiles,  like  shuttles. 


CITIES  OF  PLEASURE  273 

ran  back  and  forth  over  the  international  bridge  be- 
tween Hendaye  and  Irun,  linking  up  the  dozen  or 
twenty  kilometres  that  separate  the  two  resorts. 

Later,  when  Manuel  of  Portugal  had  greatness 
thrust  upon  him,  he  made  the  third  of  the  royal  trio 
at  Biarritz.  Grave  questions  of  State  of  three  na- 
tions were  discussed  on  the  golf  links  of  the  Basque 
resort,  and  along  the  winding  walks,  beside  the  red 
and  ochre-coloured  rocks  that  skirt  the  pale  grey 
waters  of  Biscay's  Bay.  The  privacy  of  the  monarchs 
was  respected  to  the  extent  that  the  crowd  seemed 
not  even  to  notice  that  they  were  there.  It  is  easy 
to  see  that  Biarritz  was  not  at  that  time  overrun  with 
Americans;  one  could  hardly  imagine  an  American 
watering-place  crowd  exercising  such  restraint. 

It  is  only  as  a  change  from  the  English  winter 
that  Biarritz  comes  so  to  the  fore  as  a  *'  winter 
station."  Its  climate  is  fairly  mild  and  even,  but 
the  grey  clouds  roll  in  from  the  sea,  and  the  green 
combers  break  up  on  the  shore,  bringing  in  their  train 
a  superabundance  of  fine,  misty  rain  which  keeps  a 
perennial  dampness  ever  on  hand. 

Biarritz  is  at  its  best  and  gayest  in  summer,  when 
the  Spaniards  come  across  the  frontier  from  the  arid 
rocks  and  burning  sands  of  their  own  land  to  bask 
in  the  balsamic  odours  of  the  neighbouring  pine  for- 
ests, or  amid  the  sweet-scented  magnolia  trees  of  the 
gardens  of  the  town. 

French  society,  too,  comes  in  summer.  "  Biarritz 
is  too  English  in  the  winter,"  say  the  Latins,  with  a 
shrug  of  their  shoulders.     Their  complaint  as  to  the 


274      THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

denationalisation  of  this  little  corner  of  their  land 
is  not  without  some  humour.  Besides,  the  Riviera 
is  the  chic  wintering  place  for  the  French.  They  can 
do  the  round  of  the  Mediterranean  resorts  during 
the  chilly  months,  and  in  the  late  spring  get  around 
to  the  Pyrenees  and  be  free  from  June  onwards  for 
Biarritz.  The  Russian  aristocracy  crowd  in  also; 
they  are  to  be  found  everywhere  but  in  their  own 
country,  but  this  they  lay  to  their  climate,  though  a 
a  matter  of  real  note,  the  Russians  are  the  greatest 
sports  in  Europe,  and  nowhere  can  they  get  that 
variety  of  gay  life  which  they  like  so  well  in  any- 
thing like  the  degree  of  free-handedness  and  luxuri- 
ance that  can  be  had  in  the  French  resorts. 

The  Empress  Eugenie  first  made  Biarritz  the 
fashion  when  summering  here  in  the  uncertain  days 
of  the  Second  Empire.  The  only  remaining  souvenir 
of  her  reign  is  a  big  hotel,  remodelled  and  enlarged 
from  the  once  royal  villa. 

These  were  the  beginnings  of  the  Biarritz  of  ultra- 
exclusiveness,  of  royalties  and  Spanish  grandees,  and 
from  this  it  has  blossomed  out  into  one  of  the  live- 
liest watering-places  of  Europe.  Here  Is  sport  to 
please  all  tastes.  The  English  who  carry  their  sports 
all  around  the  world  with  them,  as  they  do  the  cut 
of  their  clothes,  have  imported  fox-hunting  into  the 
neighbourhood,  and  the  red  shores  of  the  sandy 
Landes  around  Biarritz  are  harassed  by  as  correct 
a  ''  hunt  *'  of  red-coated  sportsmen  as  were  ever  seen 
in  an  English  *shire.  Thus  English  society  when  it 
winters  abroad  is  not  deprived  of  its  favourite  amuse- 


CITIES  OF  PLEASURE  275 

ment.  There  is  golf,  of  course,  for  nearly  every 
resort  in  Europe  has  been  obliged  to  lay  out  golf 
links  and  import  a  professional,  usually  a  Scot,  to 
look  after  it,  as  the  hotel  keepers  have  been  forced 
to  install  bathrooms. 

Aeroplanes  vie  with  automobiles  in  keeping  things 
humming  above  and  below.  The  air  line  from  Paris 
to  Madrid  is  by  the  way  of  Biarritz  and  San  Sebas- 
tian. The  national  sport  of  the  Basques  is  pelote,  a. 
charming  game,  reminiscent  of  squash,  where  the  ball 
is  batted  to  the  wall  by  the  players  wearing  long 
wicker  gloves,  somewhat  like  the  flippers  of  a  seal. 
At  Biarritz  it  is  at  its  best,  and  the  bull-fighting  is 
by  no  means  third  rate.  The  bathing  is  delicious  in 
summer,  which  it  is  not  on  the  north  coast  of  Europe. 
Here  one  bathes  in  the  open,  not  from  a  bathing 
machine. 

The  promenade  at  Biarritz — always  the  centre  of 
the  "  life  "  of  a  resort,  is  not  the  usual  long,  straight, 
windy  walk.  It  winds  picturesquely  over  rocks,  be- 
tween flower  beds  and  over  rustic  bridges  thrown 
from  spur  to  spur.  Society  dresses  for  dinner  and 
strolls  on  foot  or  rides  in  some  sort  of  a  vehicle  up 
and  down  before  the  long  line  of  hotels. 

Expensive,  Biarritz?  Well,  say  ten  dollars  a  day, 
if  you  really  want  to  be  in  the  swim,  literally  and 
figuratively,  and  as  much  more  as  you  will,  less  if  you 
try  hard  to  keep  the  figure  down.  The  English- 
woman of  small  income  says  that  one  can  fare  well 
at  a  certain  modest  little  hotel  for  a  dollar  and  a  half 
a  day,  but  it  is  not  for  this  that  one  chiefly  comes  to 


276      THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

Biarritz;  rather  it  is  for  the  life  of  the  great  hotels, 
and  divertisements  that  in  luxuriousness  throw  a 
glamour  about  things  in  a  way  that  suggests  cere- 
monious society  functions  more  than  the  mere  com- 
mercial transactions  with  hotel  keepers. 

San  Sebastian  is  the  Spanish  counterpart  of  Biar- 
ritz, the  nation's  one  fashionable  seaside  resort.  It 
is  tucked  away  in  a  corner  just  sufficient  to  allow  of  a 
breathing  spot  facing  the  cool  waters  of  the  north 
Atlantic.  Here  the  flower  of  Spanish  society  re- 
laxes in  a  manner  amazing  to  the  outsider.  Spanish 
grandees,  sehoras  and  sehoritas  there  disport  them- 
selves. Society  apes  things  French,  and  the  hotels 
are  French  in  their  appointments  and  cuisine.  The 
only  fairly  good  road  in  Spain  leads  from  Madrid 
to  San  Sebastian,  thus  showing  the  importance  of 
the  resort  in  the  eyes  of  Spain's  automobiling  mon- 
arch. 

Between  the  two  Basque  resorts,  one  in  France  and 
one  in  Spain,  there  is  a  constant  interchange  of  cour- 
tesies. The  gay  world  of  San  Sebastian  motors  over 
to  dance  and  play  bridge  at  Biarritz,  and  in  return 
extends  the  honours  of  her  royal  bull-ring  to  her 
French  neighbour.  The  Spanish  women  plaster 
powder  on  their  dark  faces  until  they  look  ashen; 
they  dress  as  nearly  like  Frenchwomen  as  they  can, 
and,  it  is  said,  gamble  with  zest  and  pocket  their 
winnings  without  remorse. 

In  spite  of  all  this  laxity,  the  young  Spanish  girl 
is  chaperoned  with  astonishing  severity.  Society  has 
abandoned  the  mantilla  except  for  Mass,  or  at  some 


/ 


O 


CITIES  OF  PLEASURE  277 

gala  performance  at  the  bull-ring,  when,  however, 
only  the  white  mantilla  is  the  proper  thing. 

The  Spaniards  have  apparently  no  objection  to 
setting  up  a  gambling  concession  on  their  borderland, 
but  it  is  doubtful  if  they  can  ever  hope  to  divert  the 
golden  stream  from  the  little  principality  of  Monaco, 
which  would  mean  changing  the  course  of  the  flood 
of  tourists,  who,  like  an  endless  caravan,  have  got 
the  habit  of  marching  up  to  the  very  doors  of  Monte 
Carlo's  Casino  before  pulling  up. 

Between  San  Sebastian  and  Biarritz  one  can  be 
as  gay  as  one  wishes.  Prices  are  high  in  Spain  for 
anything  really  good,  and  for  this  reason  it  is  more 
satisfactory  to  see  San  Sebastian  from  Biarritz. 

Trouville,  in  the  North,  is  the  Newport  of  France. 
It  Is  not  so  exclusive  as  Biarritz,  for  it  is  too  near 
Paris  for  that.  For  two  months  of  the  summer 
it  is  Paris-by-the-sea,  but  it  is  even  gayer  and 
more  dashing,  and  a  good  deal  more  unconven- 
tional. 

After  the  races  at  Longchamps  In  July,  high  so- 
ciety prepares  for  its  summer  exodus.  It  Is  obliga- 
tory for  society  to  show  itself  at  Trouville  for  at 
least  a  fortnight.  At  heart  the  French  mondaine 
does  not  in  the  least  care  for  outdoor  life;  she  only 
looks  upon  It  as  a  part  of  the  social  game,  and  her 
only  thought  of  the  seashore  Is  that  It  Is  a  new 
theatre  for  her  activities,  and  that  she  will  have  an 
opportunity  to  dress  for  a  new  part. 

The  Frenchwoman  does  not  relax  to  the  detriment 
of  her  looks.     There  Is  no  driving  about  bare-headed 


278      THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

in  automobiles,  for  she  does  not  court  tan  nor  sun- 
burn. She  sits  on  the  sands  at  Trouville,  under  the 
bright,  striped  awning  of  an  umbrella-like  tent,  with 
curtained  sides,  in  a  pliant — a  folding-chair — or  in  a 
hooded  wicker  chair,  with  a  becoming  arrangement 
of  cushions,  but  all  the  time  correctly  gloved  and 
veiled.  The  Frenchwoman  dreads  nothing  so  much 
as  the  sun. 

No  sight  of  its  kind  is  quite  so  gay  as  that  of  the 
sands  of  Trouville  at  four  in  the  afternoon.  Side 
by  side  with  the  discreet  family  groups  and  their 
carefully  guarded,  convent-bred  daughters,  the  nota- 
bles of  the  Paris  demi-monde  disport  themselves  on 
the  beach  in  the  most  startling  and  briefest  of  cos- 
tumes, of  a  kind  suggestive  of  an  aquatic  vaudeville 
show.  The  tactics  employed  are  reminiscent  of  the 
evening  life  along  the  Paris  boulevards  or  in  some 
popularly  frequented  restaurant. 

One  can  bathe  from  one  of  a  numbered  row  of 
bath-houses,  little  coop-like  cages,  or  from  a  *'  bath- 
ing machine,'*  while  there  are  on  all  sides  sturdy 
Norman  fishermen  hanging  about,  whose  business  it 
is  to  carry  the  timid  out  into  the  surf  and  teach  them 
to  swim — of  course  at  a  fixed  price.  The  foreign 
feminine  bathing  costume  is  startlingly  abbreviated, 
frequently  consisting  of  but  one  tight  garment. 
Stockings  are  not  obligatory  and  by  no  means  the 
custom,  though  canvas  shoes  or  sandals  are  always 
worn.  This  necessitates  the  bathrobe  being  worn 
down  to  the  water's  edge,  there  to  be  dropped  in  a 
heap  on  the  sand,  or  left  in  charge  of  a  maid.    Once 


CITIES  OF  PLEASURE  279 

In  the  water  all  deficiencies  of  costume  are  supposed 
to  be  hidden. 

Villa  life  is  a  feature  of  Trouville  for  those  who 
desire  any  approach  to  quietness  or  exclusiveness, 
but  the  Hotel  des  Roches  Noires  Is  the  centre  of 
movement,  and  all  the  world  and  his  wife  is  to  be 
found  there  at  one  time  or  another  of  the  day,  or 
at  the  Casino,  trying  their  luck  at  "  Petits  Cheveux," 
harmless  enough  if  taken  in  small  doses,  and  always 
a  characteristic  feature  of  a  Continental  resort,  and 
one  which  must  at  least  be  tried  once  In  order  to 
fully  sample  the  flavour  of  a  French  City  of 
Pleasure. 

From  Trouville  one  motors  out  to  the  Ferme  Saint 
Simon  for  luncheon,  and  round  about  In  all  direc- 
tions Is  the  charming  Norman  countryside,  with 
thatch-roofed,  half-timbered,  quaint  old  Norman 
houses. 

At  Deauville,  Trouville's  twin,  just  down  the  coast, 
is  the  summer  capital  of  rank  and  fashion.  Here 
on  the  famous  seaside  race-track  is  run  the  Grand 
Prix  of  the  French  provinces,  the  race  attracting 
quite  as  much  of  the  sporty,  dressy  element  as  Is  to 
be  seen  at  Longchamps  itself.  This  Is  peculiarly  a 
phase  of  the  summer  life  of  Deauville-Trouvllle,  as 
the  twin  towns  are  usually  called. 

Dinard,  on  the  Breton  coast,  to  the  westward  of 
Trouville,  tries  to  be  exclusive,  and  folk  on  limited 
income  here  make  a  brave  showing,  which,  In  the 
comforts  and  variety  with  which  they  surround  their 
summer  life,  compares  favourably  with  that  of  their 


28o      THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

plunging  neighbours  In  Normandy,  though,  after 
all,  the  keynote  of  French  seaside  summer  life  Is 
only  to  be  heard  In  Its  most  melodic  form  at  Trou- 
vllle  and  Its  neighbouring  summer  cities. 

"  England's  Riviera  "  Is  a  myth.  It  Is  not  for  a 
moment  to  be  supposed  that  such  a  thing  exists  ex- 
cept In  words.  Brighton,  "  London-by-the-Sea,"  as 
It  Is  called,  Is  as  far  as  the  comparison  can  be  justly 
carried.  So  far  as  England  Is  concerned,  Brighton 
Is  the  *'  Queen  of  Watering-places,"  and  affords  an 
exemplification  of  the  tradition  that  the  English  take 
their  pleasure  sadly.  English  smug  society  considers 
Itself  on  the  top  wave  of  gaiety  when  It  spends  a 
week-end  at  Brighton.  Saturday  to  Monday  at  the 
Metropole  or  the  Grand,  off  and  on  during  the 
winter,  used  to  be  the  fashion,  but  the  automobile 
has  made  It  possible  to  make  Brighton  the  end  of 
a  day's  run  down  and  back,  with  dinner  at  the  Old 
Ship  Inn,  and  so  that  rather  faded  hostelry  has  been 
furbished  up  anew  and  Is  more  than  running  the 
modem  establishments  a  close  second.  Brighton  Is 
supposed  to  be  both  a  winter  and  summer  resort — 
patronised  by  society  In  winter  and  trippers  In 
summer,  a  tripper  being  one  who  travels  on 
a  cheap  ticket  with  a  return  limit  Inconveniently 
near.  Only  by  courtesy,  and  In  contrast  with  the 
London  winter,  could  Brighton  be  called  a  winter 
resort. 

One  of  Brighton's  chief  amusements  Is  being 
pushed  about  In  a  *'  bath  chair,"  a  contrivance  on  the 
order  of  a  perambulator,  but  not  so  sociable  as  those 


CITIES  OF  PLEASURE  281 

of  the  "  Board  Walks  "  of  America,  as  it  only  ac- 
commodates one.  Nothing  is  considered  more  exclu- 
sive than  a  daily  airing  in  a  "  bath  chair,'*  the  name 
coming  from  its  first  appearance  at  the  one-time 
fashionable  resort  of  Bath.  Afternoons  are  spent 
on  the  iron  pier.  Every  English  seaside  place  has  a 
long  pier  jutting  out  into  the  water,  where  one  sits 
and  listens  to  the  band.  Glass-covered  shelters  are 
at  intervals  along  the  promenade,  allowing  sitting 
out  in  the  almost  daily  rain;  by  shifting  occasionally 
one  may  also  avoid  the  most  contrary  v.'inds  that 
blow. 

Hotel  life  lacks  the  French  dash  and  brilliance, 
but  the  English  have  taken  kindly  to  the  great  hotel 
at  home  as  an  amusement  enterprise,  and  formality 
is  relaxed  to  a  degree  unknown  formerly.  One  is 
asked  to  make  up  bridge  parties,  and  here  the  Amer- 
ican woman  can  shine,  if  she  so  wishes.  A  week- 
end at  the  Metropole  is  not  a  bad  change  from  Lon- 
don in  February — if  you  cannot  get  down  to  the  real 
Riviera  in  the  south  of  France. 

Bournemouth  is  farther  to  the  westward,  some- 
what nearer  the  Scilly  Isles,  where  the  warm  sweep 
of  the  Gulf  Stream  makes  bloom  the  narcissus  in 
the  open  air  when  the  crocuses  are  hardly  out  in 
the  same  latitude  inland.  Bournemouth  is  a  resort 
for  invalids  of  the  real  and  imaginary  kind,  and  its 
attractions  in  consequence  are  of  the  most  homeo- 
pathic nature.  A  stroll  under  the  pines,  or  In  the 
pretty  sunken  gardens,  being  trundled  about  In  a  bath 
chair,  or  an  afternoon  visit  to  the  tea-shop,  are  about 


282      THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

as  stimulating  as  any  of  Bournemouth's  amusements. 

As  a  rest-cure  the  place  is  to  be  recommended,  but 
it  is  totally  unsulted  to  American  taste,  though  mid- 
dle-class English  society  desires  nothing  better  than 
a  month  at  Bournemouth.  Like  all  English  resorts 
it  is  expensive  out  of  all  proportion  for  what  one 
gets. 

Ostende,  In  Belgium,  and  Schevenlngen,  in  Hol- 
land, are  the  only  two  outlets  to  the  sea  for  north 
Germany,  which  has  no  pleasure  city  on  her  small 
seaboard,  nor  has  Russia;  consequently  these  two 
nations  find  their  way  to  the  Dutch  and  Belgian  re- 
sorts. Ostende  has  probably  the  most  beautiful 
beach  {plage  is  the  European  word)  of  all.  A  mag- 
nificent brick-paved  promenade — the  Digue — stretches 
for  a  mile  or  more,  on  one  side  the  vast  expanse  of 
smooth  sand,  and  on  the  other  a  line  of  palatial 
hotels,  the  equal  in  price  and  appointments  of  any 
on  earth. 

A  prolonged  stay  at  Ostende  would  eat  the  very 
bottom  out  of  one's  purse.  Its  water  front  is  most 
spectacular,  and  the  little  city  stands  alone  as  the 
most  luxurious  seaside  resort  of  its  type.  It  was  in 
a  fair  way  to  become  a  northern  Monte  Carlo,  and 
its  proximity  to  London  and  the  big  wealthy  cities  of 
north  Europe  gave  an  excuse  for  high  play.  But 
its  glory  has  faded  since  public  gambling  was  put  an 
end  to  a  year  or  so  ago  by  the  suddenly  aroused 
conscience  of  the  Belgian  Government.  All  the 
same,  prices  have  not  slumped  at  Ostende,  and  its 
unrivalled  bathing   facilities   still   attract   a   cosmo- 


CITIES  OF  PLEASURE  283 

polltan  crowd  to  brave  the  rather  damp  bathing 
season  which  hardly  extends  over  more  than  sixty 
days  of  midsummer. 

The  open-air  bath  takes  on  a  more  decorous  phase 
as  one  goes  further  towards  the  North  Sea.  This 
may  be  because  of  the  chilling  climate  quite  as  much 
as  a  severer  code  of  morals. 

One  bathes  here  exclusively  from  the  bathing 
machine,  a  little  house  on  wheels;  you  enter,  a  man 
hitches  a  horse,  and  the  "  machine  "  is  taken  on  the 
run  down  into  the  surf.  The  horse  and  driver  go 
back  to  dry  land  while  you  undress  and  step  down 
into  the  water  as  if  out  of  your  own  front  door. 
You  enter  again  and  dress,  and,  at  a  prearranged 
time,  the  horse  and  man  come  and  drag  the  *'  ma- 
chine "  out  again.  It  is  undoubtedly  a  most  con- 
venient way  of  bathing,  though  there  are  stories  of 
these  sea-horses  taking  fright  and  running  out  to 
open  water,  setting  the  bathing  machine  adrift.  One 
hires  a  bathing  machine  by  the  hour,  day,  week  or 
season,  and  temporarily  it  is  one's  castle. 

Royalty  often  comes  to  Ostende,  for  royalty  must 
bathe  somewhere,  and  German  princes  don't  care 
overmuch  for  the  French  resorts.  The  large  Kur- 
saal — the  German  influence  is  strong  here — a  large 
concert  hall,  built  out  over  the  water,  is  a  place  where 
one  may  listen  to  the  world's  finest  summer  orchestra 
and  partake  of  light  refreshments. 

Just  as  an  experience,  a  round  of  Ostende  is  amus- 
ing enough,  though  the  passing  traveller  usually 
knows  it  only  as  one  of  the  termini  of  a  particularly 


284      THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

unpleasant  crossing  of  the  Channel  from  England  to 
the  Continent. 

Scheveningen  being  Dutch  is  a  bit  heavy  and  staid. 
Its  peculiarity,  at  first  glance,  is  the  vast  spawn  of 
mushroom  wicker  chairs  dotting  the  sands  from  the 
edge  of  the  green-grey  North  Sea  to  the  dykes  which 
separate  its  waters  from  low-lying  Holland  to  the 
rear.  These  chairs,  like  the  bathing  machines  at 
Ostende,  are  rented  for  long  or  short  periods,  and 
such  of  the  throng  as  do  not  find  enjoyment  in  the 
rather  glacial  waters  off-shore,  are  very  comfortable 
indeed  gazing  at  those  who  do  from  the  depths  of 
one  of  the  curious  chairs,  wherein  one  is  so  sheltered 
from  the  winds  that  blow  and  the  sun  that  burns, 
that  they  are  otherwise  quite  indifferent  to  climatic 
conditions. 

Scheveningen  is  the  seaside  suburb  of  Holland's 
dainty  capital  of  the  Hague.  There  are  hotels  at 
Scheveningen  of  an  excellence  approaching  the  best 
elsewhere;  there  is  a  Kursaal,  too,  of  some  magnifi- 
cence, and  an  appreciably  good  orchestra.  At  the 
other  end  of  the  dyke  is  the  fishermen's  village,  where 
the  clumsy,  broad-of-beam  fishing-boats  are  drawn  up 
on  the  beach,  and  tarry  old  salts  group  themselves 
picturesquely  about  the  market  place,  where  the  day's 
catch  is  sold  off  by  the  ''  Dutch  Auction  "  process, 
which  is  nothing  more  than  beginning  at  the  highest 
probable  price  that  the  fish  might  bring,  with  a  de- 
scent down  the  scale  if  there  are  no  offers  at  the 
higher  prices. 

At  Scheveningen  one's  bathing-box  is  catered  to  by 


CITIES  OF  PLEASURE 


285 


women,  who  go  about,  their  arms  full  of  towels  and 
costumes  for  rent,  each  labelled  with  their  name  to 
facilitate  sorting  out. 

The  charge  for  the  bath  cabin  here  is  twenty  cents 
for  a  small  one  and  fifty  cents  for  one  more  commo- 
dious, while  the  rate  for  the  mushroom  basket  chairs 
and  a  foot  stool  is  twenty  cents  a  day. 

Across  the  heart  of  France,  through  vine-clad  Bur- 
gundy and  gripping  the  foothills  of  the  Alps,  one 


^Tbfc  Palanquins  of   Atx-ljes-B/^iNS^ 


comes  to  AIx-les-Bains,  which  has  the  reputation  of 
being  the  wickedest  place  in  Europe.  Rival  spas 
may  or  may  not  have  set  this  gossip  afloat,  but  one 
thing  Is  certain;  It  sets  the  liveliest  pace  of  any 
''  cure ''  in  Europe,  and  assuredly  is  not  for  that  class 
of  invalids  which  is  in  need  of  rest  and  quiet. 

Its  ''  cure ''  is  a  three  weeks*  course  of  baths, 
douches  and  the  usual  routine  which  eases  the  pangs 
of  gout,  but  the  service  of  palanquins  is  an  exclusive 
feature  of  AIx-les-Bains.     The  invalids  are  carried 


286      THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

to  and  from  the  baths  In  a  sort  of  curtained  sedan 
chair  by  two  uniformed  bearers.  One  can  step  from 
bed  into  a  palanquin  at  any  unusual  hour  that  a  bath 
is  prescribed,  be  carried  to  the  bathing  establishment 
and  returned  with  a  minimum  of  exertion.  Automo- 
biles are  more  plentiful  than  palanquins  though,  and 
a  very  small  proportion  of  invalids  form  a  part  of 
the  crowds  that  fill  the  magnificent  hotels  for  the  four 
months'  season. 

One  is  thus  tempted  to  believe  that  Aix's  grand 
thermal  establishment  is  only  a  drawing  card  for 
the  world  which  must  be  attracted  thither,  and  that 
the  health  bogey  is  as  good  an  excuse  as  any  other; 
to  claim  to  be  able  to  put  one's  health  to  rights  in 
three  weeks,  under  the  most  luxurious  of  environ- 
ments, is  a  good  enough  bait  with  which  to  catch 
the  most  sceptical. 

Vichy  has  got  Aix-les-Balns  very  close  when  it 
comes  to  the  purveying  of  amusements  and  mineral 
waters,  though  Vichy's  thirty  millions  of  bottles  sent 
out  into  the  world  each  year  have  left  its  rival  far 
behind.  There  is  no  question  but  that  V5chy  is 
to-day  the  less  fashionable  resort,  though  perhaps 
visited  the  more  largely. 

The  usual  attributes  of  a  French  watering-place 
are  on  their  biggest  scale  here.  The  springs  are 
State  owned  and  controlled,  and  since  there  is  no 
"  Vichy  "  save  the  "  Hopltal,"  "  Grand  Grille  "  and 
"  Celestins,"  it  is  needless  to  order  "  French  Vichy," 
if  that  which  has  a  right  to  the  name  is  what  is 
wanted. 


CITIES  OF  PLEASURE  287 

Madame  de  Sevlgne  first  gave  the  vogue  to 
"  Vichy  " ;  since  her  day  the  wave  of  popularity  has 
engulfed  it  as  it  has  no  other  place  of  its  class  in 
France.  The  Hotel  Astoria,  the  Ambassadeurs  and 
the  Pare  are  as  luxuriously  fitted  as  those  more  ex- 
pensive and  more  fashionable  elsewhere,  and  though 
not  cheap  are  decidedly  good  value. 

A  curious  thing  about  the  hfe  of  Vichy  is  that 
you  pay  for  your  baths  on  a  sliding  scale  which  more 
or  less  corresponds  with  the  price  which  you  pay  for 
accommodations  at  your  hotel.  There  seems  reason 
in  this. 

Americans  do  not  linger  on  at  Vichy,  but  it  is 
worthy  of  remark  that  one  thousand  five  hundred  of 
the  species  were  registered  at  this  most  popular  of 
French  springs  in  the  month  of  August  of  last  year. 

Switzerland's  resorts  take  on  one  complexion  in 
summer  and  another  in  winter.  Some  of  us  who 
know  prefer  them  in  winter. 

Lucerne,  of  all  other  Swiss  towns,  heads  the  list 
as  a  stranger's  capital.  It  has  come  forward  remark- 
ably in  the  last  few  years,  though  it  has  not,  however, 
the  thin  excuse  for  being  that  has  many  another  place 
of  its  class;  there  are  no  baths,  nor  tours  to  take; 
pure  enjoyment  is  Lucerne's  only  invested  capital, 
and  its  two  magnificent  hotels,  the  Schweitzerhof  and 
the  Luzernerhof,  provide  the  luxurious  living  which 
is  its  natural  accompaniment. 

Amusements  are  plentiful  enough,  and  Lucerne  is 
the  gateway  for  automobiles  coming  down  from  the 
Rhine  country  and  the  Black  Forest,  bound  Italywards 


288      THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

via  the  St.  Gothard  Pass  and  vice  versa.  One  can 
buy  a  season  ticket  and  ride  about  the  Lake  of  the 
Four  Cantons  on  the  fine  steamers  which  are  forever 
fussing  about,  as  often  and  as  much  as  one  likes,  for 
a  very  small  sum,  luncheon  on  board  if  desired. 

The  only  practical  passenger-carrying  airship  yet 
launched  soars  above  Lucerne,  and  for  two  hundred 
francs — forty  dollars — one  may  take  a  homeopathic 
flight  out  over  the  lake  and  back  to  the  landing-place, 
if  one  puts  so  low  a  valuation  upon  one's  life. 

Lucerne's  greatest  amusement  is  the  daily  prome- 
nade along  the  tree-shaded  quay,  when  all  the  middle 
and  upper  society  of  all  nations,  in  the  brightest  and 
best  of  summer  frocks,  takes  its  airing  between  the 
hours  of  tea  and  dinner. 

Lucerne  being  about  the  centre  of  civilised  Europe 
lends  itself  naturally  as  a  meeting-place,  and  its 
August  crowd  is  cosmopolitan  almost  beyond  belief 
to  one  who  has  not  had  acquaintance  therewith. 

At  the  tea  hour  the  "  lounges  "  and  "  halls  "  of 
the  big  hotels  are  full  to  overflowing.  Motor 
launches  on  the  lake  are  seemingly  innumerable,  and 
the  funiculairs,  up  the  Rigi  or  Pilatus,  lose  themselves 
above  the  clouds. 

For  the  woman  visitor  there  is  always  the  diversion 
of  the  lace  and  embroidery  shops,  for  Lucerne  is  one 
of  the  most  important  of  retail  outlets  for  the  wares 
of  St.  Gall  and  Appenzell.  As  a  drawing  card  the 
little  embroideresses  sit  stitching  away  outside  the 
lace  shops.  They  serve  somewhat  naively  their  un- 
acknowledged purpose  of  drawing  customers  inside, 


CITIES  OF  PLEASURE  289 

though  In  reality  they  may  be  considered  as  the  taffy 
which  draws  the  unsuspecting  fly  thither. 

The  Riviera  quartette,  Cannes,  Nice,  Monte  Carlo 
and  Menton,  Is  the  most  attractive  battery  of  Euro- 
pean resorts  Indexed  In  the  books  of  the  globe-trotter. 
They  are  woman's  paradise.  One  hundred  and  fifty 
miles  of  sea  coast,  from  Marseilles  to  the  Italian 
frontier,  contains  all  that  is  superlative  among  the 
world's  playgrounds. 

This  quartette  of  ''  stations  d^hiver/'  as  the  French 
name  their  winter  resorts,  are  unequalled  among  the 
world's  cities  of  pleasure.  The  original  development 
of  this  strip  of  Mediterranean  coast  line  as  a  refuge 
for  Invalids  fleeing  from  the  foggy  north  has  been 
lost  sight  of  In  a  flood  of  amusements,  which  has  of 
late  rolled  upon  its  shores,  almost  too  strenuous  for 
those  halfway  111. 

Americans  have  almost  appropriated  the  region 
as  their  own,  and  whereas  the  aspect  was  formerly, 
and  thoroughly,  English,  to-day  it  has  decidedly  the 
flavour  of  over  the  Atlantic.  American  trade  is 
catered  to  by  hotels,  shops,  automobile  garages  and 
tourist  agencies. 

There  are  no  Baedeker  ''  sights  "  here,  not  suffi- 
cient to  account  for  the  throngs.  What  antiquities 
there  are  are  discreetly  in  the  background,  and  sight- 
seeing is  not  a  procedure  which  Is  allowed  to  Interfere 
with  more  frivolous  social  functions. 

Coming  eastward,  Cannes  is  the  first  of  these  winter 
stations,  the  most  exclusive,  most  aristocratic  resort 
in  Europe.     And  in  spite  of  this,  Americans  have 


290      THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

been  known  to  say  that  it  was  "  too  quiet."  This 
means  simply,  if  it  means  anything,  that  the  real  life 
of  Cannes  is  not  for  the  outsider.  It  is  a  life  of 
villas,  select  clubs,  exclusive  hotel  and  restaurant  din- 
ners, teas  at  Rumplemeyer's,  the  "high  life*'  of 
yachtsmen  and  women  and  the  things  that  Russian 
Grand  Dukes,  German  Princes  and  English  Lords 
affect  when  they  are  holiday-making  under  congenial 
skies. 

Here  the  aristocracy  of  Europe  is  at  close  range. 
As  diversions  there  are  golfing,  automobiling,  yacht- 
ing, polo  playing  and  aeroplaning.  Cannes  is  the 
biggest  and  most  famous  yacht  station  on  the  Medi- 
terranean, and  the  swellest  craft  of  all  nations  that 
fly  a  flag  are,  at  one  time  or  another,  to  be  seen 
moored  to  the  Albert  Edward  Jetty,  named  for  that 
great  sportsman,  Edward  VII. 

There  is  a  five  kilometre  palm-tree-lined  prome- 
nade, more  attractive  even  than  the  celebrated  Prom- 
enade des  Anglais  at  Nice,  and  in  the  Alices,  be- 
fore the  Municipal  Casino,  all  the  world  saunters 
before  and  after  the  hour  of  tea,  to  see  and  to  be 
seen. 

For  the  small  sum  of  one  franc  you  may  gamble 
at  a  homeopathic  roulette  wheel  within  the  casino, 
or  for  ten  dollars  dine  in  the  gorgeous  restaurant 
of  the  establishment  overlooking  the  blue  Mediterra- 
nean waves,  while  at  Rumplemeyer's  one  gets  ices, 
cakes  and  tea  at  equally  inflated  prices. 

Automobiles  of  the  nobility  and  royalty  of  Europe 
are  everywhere,  but  they  carry  no  identifying  number 


CITIES  OF  PLEASURE  291 

plates  like  those  of  plebeians ;  with  a  regal  right  they 
make  what  speed  they  will  by  a  sort  of  international 
courtesy  which  grants  them  this  privilege  of  the  road. 

All  the  way  eastward  from  Cannes,  across  the 
Italian  frontier,  even  unto  Genoa,  is  a  whole  string 
of  these  pleasure  cities,  where  white  marble  structures 
and  palm-tree-lined  promenades  predominate.  The 
worldly  capital  of  them  all  is  Nice. 

*^  Nizza,  la  Bella/'  as  the  Italians  called  it  when 
it  was  their  own,  caters  for  a  quarter  of  a  million 
strangers  in  a  season  which  extends  from  November 
to  May.  A  busy  city  on  its  own  account,  the  tourists' 
capital  in  winter  adds  another  population  of  like 
proportions,  and  there  is  a  "  movement  '*  and  a 
prosperity  which  is  only  to  be  admitted  by  acknowl- 
edging that  the  caring  for  the  stranger  is  its  chief 
industry. 

One  reason  for  the  great  popularity  of  Nice  Is  that 
it  is  within  a  half-hour's  ride  of  that  restricted  little 
metropolis  of  Monte  Carlo.  A  wave  of  the  same 
worldly  atmosphere  as  that  at  Monte  Carlo  also 
envelopes  Nice,  and  when  its  winter  population  is 
not  sauntering  in  gay  clothes  on  the  celebrated  Prom- 
enade des  Anglais,  it  is  at  the  Casino,  where,  for  a 
franc  entrance  fee,  considerably  less  if  you  are  a 
"  subscriber,"  you  may  spend  as  much  or  as  little 
as  you  will  and  need  not  feel  that  you  are  missing 
anything  by  not  being  at  Monte  Carlo  Itself. 

A  sort  of  glorified  glass-house,  or  conservatory, 
Nice's  Casino  is  virtually  an  Indoor  palm  garden. 
Little  wicker  tables  and  chairs  are  set  about  tempt- 


292      THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

Ingly,  and  one  falls  naturally  before  them,  and  orders 
tea  and  toast  or  a  '^  quart  Vichy, ^'  or  whatever  one's 
favourite  tipple  may  be  for  the  moment,  meanwhile 
listening  to  the  orchestra  and  gazing  at  the  marching 
and  counter-marching  throng  who  make  this  part  of 
their  daily  round  as  much  a  feature  of  their  existence 
as  getting  up  and  going  to  bed. 

In  chapel-like  alcoves  down  either  side  of  this  great 
glass-domed  room  Is  worshipped  the  God  of  Chance. 


^'::m!-'^- 


"  Roulette  "  and  "  Boule  ''  and  "  Petits  Chevaux  " 
here  divide  the  claims  for  attention,  the  latter  being 
by  far  the  favourite,  thought  it  does  seem  childish  to 
see  grown  men  and  women  occupy  themselves  so  in- 
tently on  little  tin  horses  whirling  around  on  a  central 
pivot,  in  the  hope  that  the  one  which  Is  painted  red, 
or  green,  or  blue,  will  stop  nearest  the  winning  post. 
Like  Monte  Carlo's  game,  the  odds  are  very  much 
against  the  player. 


CITIES  OF  PLEASURE  293 

What  Nice  lacks  in  refinement  it  makes  up  in  a 
generous  display  of  the  things  that  attract  and  amuse 
the  winter  idler,  and  with  that  one  cannot  find  fault. 
All  is  luxurious  and  expensive,  but  not  one  single 
phase  is  exclusive.  Money  is  the  open  sesame 
to  all. 

The  shops  of  Nice  will  not  prove  the  least  potent 
of  the  lodestones  of  this  winter  capital  by  the  sea. 
Chiefly,  they  are  branches  of  those  of  the  Rue  de  la 
Paix  and  the  Rue  Royal  at  Paris,  and  the  doors  of 
many  blazon  names  the  most  famous  in  the  world  of 
the  luxurious  shopper.  Prices  for  really  exclusive 
things,  whether  they  be  jewels,  gowns  or  hats,  if 
bought  at  Nice  are  apt  to  be  a  little  in  excess  of  what 
they  would  be  in  Paris.  The  game  is  one  of  money 
again,  and  nothing  is  good  value  for  what  one  pays  in 
Nice.  A  large  part  of  one's  expenditures  here  are 
only  properly  to  be  charged  off  to  unpremeditated 
follies,  but  often  these  are  worth  paying  for,  or 
thought  to  be,  so  not  every  one  will  complain.  There 
is  no  difficulty  at  Nice  in  supplying  one's  most  peculiar 
pet  taste. 

The  little  principality  of  Monaco,  with  an  area 
scarce  four  and  a  half  by  one  and  a  half  miles,  placed 
like  a  jewel  in  the  centre  of  the  chain  of  Riviera  re- 
sorts, enjoys  the  unique  distinction  of  being  a  land 
whose  interests  are  entirely  devoted  to  amusement. 
The  reigning  monarch,  the  army,  church  and  muni- 
cipal government  are  virtually  maintained  by  returns 
gained  from  the  gambling  concession,  which  itself  is 
supported  by  contributions  from  all  the  world.     On 


294      THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

this  foundation  the  princely  house  of  Grimaldi  is 
built. 

That  it  is  the  most  beautiful  spot  in  the  world 
carries  small  weight  beside  the  fact  that  the  roulette 
wheel  of  Monte  Carlo's  Casino  is  the  whirling  mag- 
net that  draws  uncounted  numbers  to  these  parts. 
Even  the  most  puritanical  of  women  will  want  at 
least  to  "  see  the  inside  '*  of  Monte  Carlo's  Casino, 
and  this  one  may  do  without  male  escort.  It  would 
seem  as  though  it  ought  to  be  easy  tO'  walk  freely 
into  an  establishment  that  exists  only  for  the  express 
purpose  of  relieving  visitors  of  their  money,  but  the 
formalities  of  the  procedure  here  actually  take  fifteen 
or  twenty  minutes.  At  the  entrance  is  drawn  up  an 
army  of  officials,  imperturbable  but  watchful.  You 
are  turned  into  a  businesslike  office — more  officials. 
Before  a  long  desk,  as  if  you  were  going  to  open  an 
account  in  a  bank  rather  than  deplete  one,  a  clerk 
asks  for  some  means  of  identification — a  visiting  card 
is  sufficient — demands  your  home  address  and  as  to 
where  you  may  be  stopping. 

All  this  he  records  minutely,  and  during  the  process 
you  have  been  subjected  to  a  piercing  scrutiny. 

No  girl  under  eighteen  may  enter,  so  if  one's  looks 
are  too  youthful,  or  her  skirts  too  short,  she  may  have 
some  difficulty  in  convincing  the  administration  that 
she  has  reached  the  age  of  discretion.  So,  too,  if 
you  are  just  off  your  automobile,  and  happen  to  be 
too  much  wrapped  up  in  a  cloud  of  veiling,  you  may 
be  politely  asked  to  unwrap.  All  this  means  that 
the  officials  wish  to  have  every  sure  means  at  hand 


CITIES  OF  PLEASURE  295 

of  identification  In  case  the  suicide  of  an  unknown 
takes  place  In  some  secluded  spot  in  their  beautiful 
gardens. 

At  last  you  are  handed  a  properly  made  out  en- 
trance card.  If  you  have  a  camera  it  must  be 
checked.  Minions  In  unobtrusive  uniforms  haunt 
your  steps,  and  you  sense  the  unpleasant  feeling  of 
being  watched.  At  the  entrance  to  the  Salles  de  Jeu 
you  are  stopped  again,  while  another  official  scruti- 
nises your  card,  finally  throwing  open  the  door  and 
ushering  you  within  as  if  It  were  your  appearance 
at  some  private  function.  Once  Inside,  your  move- 
ments are  no  longer  hampered.  You  may  stroll 
about  through  the  long  suites  of  rooms,  from  the 
five-franc  roulette  tables  to  the  twenty-franc  trente-et- 
quarante,  as  you  please.  Hundreds  are  crowded 
around  each  table,  but  there  is  a  silence  as  of  the 
tomb.  People  stick  rows  deep  around  the  golden 
piles  on  the  green  baize  as  flies  about  a  lump  of  sugar, 
unconscious  of  all  around  them  but  the  clink  of  coin 
and  the  rustle  of  banknotes. 

Where  money  is  thrown  about  on  a  green  cloth 
unceasingly  It  is  only  natural  that  one  loses  all  sense 
of  its  value.  Prices  at  Monte  Carlo  bear  no  relation 
to  others  elsewhere  for  the  same  thing.  The  res- 
taurant menus  scorn  to  name  prices,  and  the  unitiated 
will  not  know  If  lunch  at  the  Cafe  de  Paris  is  going 
to  cost  two  dollars  or  ten  dollars.  A  room  and  bath 
at  the  Hotel  de  Paris  is  apparently  anything,  in  the 
height  of  the  spring  season,  that  the  proprietor  can 
get — say  from  ten  dollars  up.     A  sojourn  at  Monte 


296      THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

Carlo  is  a  millionaire's  game,  even  if  one  never  goes 
inside  the  Casino. 

The  last  of  the  great  French  Riviera  stations  is 
Menton.  In  many  respects  it  is  the  pleasantest  of  all 
at  which  to  make  a  stay.  The  virtual  gateway  to 
Italy,  it  commands  the  French  Riviera  on  one  side 
and  that  of  Liguria  on  the  other.  Its  accommoda- 
tions are  quite  the  equal  of  the  other  resorts,  but 
the  atmosphere  is  more  tranquil  and  the  pace  slower. 
A  scarce  half-dozen  miles  from  Monte  Carlo,  Men- 
ton  offers  all  that  that  little  world  of  iniquity  lacks, 
an  English  church  and  a  homeopathic  druggist. 


CLASSIFICATION  OF  EUROPEAN  HOTELS 
PICTURESQUE   ENGLISH   INN 
SENTIMENTAL  ASSOCIATIONS 


"  LIGHTS  AND  ATTENDANCE  " 

ROSES  AND  LAVENDER 

COFFEE  ROOM 

FOOD  OF  THE  ENGLISH  INN 

THE  "  COUNTY  HOTEL  " 

AIRING   THE    BEDS 

SPORT  AND  THE  ENGLISH  INN 

HOTEL  OF  THE  FRENCH  COUNTRYSIDE 

REAL  FRENCH  CUISINE 

PROPRIETOR-CHEF 

"  COMMIS  VOYAGEURS  ''  AND  THE  TABLE  d'hOTE 

EARLY  HOURS  OF  THE  FRENCH  COUNTRYSIDE 

TYPES  OF   FRENCH   HOTELS 

ITALIAN  ALBERGO 

MENU  OF  THE  ITALIAN  HOTEL 

COUNTRY  HOTELS  OF  SWITZERLAND 

CHEAP  SWISS  HOTELS  AND  GERMAN  STUDENTS 

GERMAN  GASTHAUS 

INNS  OF  THE  BLACK  FOREST 

BREAKFAST  AT  THE  DUTCH   HOTEL 

CHEAP  HOTELS  OF  BELGIUM 


XII 

THE  COUNTRY  HOTELS  OF  EUROPE 

The  hotels  of  Europe  are  readily  classified.  There 
is  the  purely  resort  hotel,  which  is  only  open  at 
certain  seasons,  catering  to  a  special  clientele,  and 
whose  prices,  on  account  of  the  various  divertise- 
ments  purveyed,  are  well  in  the  neighbourhood  of 
ten  dollars  a  day.  Tourist  hotels  of  a  similar  rank, 
so  far  as  excellence  and  worth  may  go,  but  less 
fashionable,  cater  in  a  similar  fashion  for,  say  five 
dollars  a  day  all  found,  save  the  cost  of  wine  or 
extras. 

The  frankly  second-class  tourist  hotels  of  the  re- 
sorts, as  good  perhaps  in  quality,  but  less  luxurious 
than  those  of  the  first  class,  are  much  cheaper,  cater- 
ing at  a  minimum  of  three  dollars  per  day  per  person. 

Those  of  the  third  class,  quite  good  enough,  if 
price  is  a  consideration,  begin  at  the  equivalent  of 
two  dollars,  and  such  are  found  in  practically  all 
the  resorts  of  Europe,  though  partaking  very  little 
of  the  complexion  of  those  of  the  first  two  classes. 

Without  going  down  in  scale,  but  of  a  different 
classification,  are  the  commercial  hotels  of  the  towns 
of  France  in  particular,  which  possess  almost  nothing 
of  luxury,  but  often  cater  in  a  superior  "  National  '* 
manner   to   those   establishments   whose   clients    are 

299 


300      THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

English-speaking  people  alone.  On  the  Continent 
many  of  these  are  to  be  found,  where,  for  seldom 
more  than  two  dollars  per  day,  one  may  be  served 
of  the  very  best  that  the  country  affords  in  the  way 
of  the  good  things  of  the  table;  in  England  the  cost 
is  somewhat  more.  Such  houses  may  lack  in  what 
we  call  modern  conveniences,  but  invariably  possess 
a  character  which  many  will  prefer  to  that  of  the 
tourist  establishments  where  only  *'  foreigners  '^  are 
found. 

Last  of  all  comes  the  country  inn,  lowest  in  price, 
and,  on  the  Continent,  often  to  be  had  for  a  dollar 
a  day,  or  a  little  more,  up  to  say  a  dollar  and  a  half. 
In  such  quaint  and  charming  hostelries  as  these  usu- 
ally prove  to  be,  one  is  sure  of  simple,  well-cooked 
food,  abundantly  served,  and  the  opportunity  of 
rubbing  elbows  with  the  people  of  the  country 
is  not  the  least  of  their  attractions.  Under  such 
conditions,  deficiencies  and  inconveniences  are  made 
light  of,  and  one  gets  a  touch  of  individuality 
which  vividly  impresses  the  surroundings  upon 
one. 

The  American  traveller  accepts  without  question 
the  English  inn  as  the  ideal  type  of  the  small  hostelry, 
but  regards  dubiously  the  corresponding  small  hotel 
of  the  countryside  of  Continental  Europe.  Even  if 
one  does  sample  the  modest  Italian  aibergo,  the  Ger- 
man gasthaus  or  the  small  French  auherge  out  of 
curiosity,  and  finds  it  good,  the  experience  is  looked 
upon  as  an  exception.  More  particularly  is  this  the 
woman's  point  of  view,  and  still  unconvinced,  she 


THE  COUNTRY  HOTELS  OF  EUROPE    301 

passes  on  the  next  time  to  the  big  tourist  hotel  with 
a  thousand  windows. 

The  reason  is  obvious.  The  English  inn  has  been 
thoroughly  advertised  by  the  time-honoured  literature 
of  its  country.  Poets  and  artists,  times  without  num- 
ber, have  surrounded  it  with  a  romantic  glamour, 
so  that  now  it  stands  as  the  very  flower  of  the 
traveller's  rest-house. 

Since  we  as  a  nation  have  largely  drawn  our  ideas 
of  hotel  life  from  English  sources,  it  is  correspond- 
ingly through  that  same  medium  that  we  have  im- 
bibed the  English  contempt  of  the  "  foreign''  hotel 
— meaning  that  of  Continental  Europe.  But  this 
point  of  view  is  giving  way  before  the  immense  im- 
provement in  all  classes  of  hotels,  brought  about  by 
the  Renaissance  of  tourisme  that  is  sweeping  over 
Europe.  More  especially  is  the  change  to  be  noted 
in  the  small  country  hotel  of  France,  which  the  Eng- 
lish themselves  are  forced  to  admit  as  superior,  in 
many  cases,  to  their  own  country  inns.  If  not  In 
actual  comfort,  at  least  In  quality,  and  this  ought  to 
mean  the  same  thing. 

It  is  the  English  inn  which  still  makes  the  strongest 
sentimental  appeal  to  the  traveller.  It  still  stands 
for  the  glamour  of  the  open  road  and  a  real  hos- 
pitality of  a  pertinent,  personal  nature.  The  Eng- 
lish inn  is  synonomous  with  good  cheer  and  comfort 
and  a  welcome  shII  warm  with  the  traditions  of  old- 
time  travel.  It  is  the  personal  service  with  which 
one  meets  at  the  English  inn  that  makes  the  strongest 
bid  for  the  woman  traveller.     No  matter  how  small 


302      THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

the  house,  one  is  taken  In  hand  and  made  to  feel 
as  much  at  home  as  Is  possible  when  one  Is  sleeping 
In  a  strange  bed  and  being  waited  upon  by  strange 
servants. 

That  the  English  Inn  Is  still  our  Ideal  of  the  most 
attractive  form  of  hostelry,  Is  endorsed  by  the  imita- 
tions which  are  springing  up  all  over  our  own  coun- 
try. Just  the  display  of  that  magic  word  "  inn  "  Is 
enough  to  assure  one  that  patronises  the  establishment 
behind  it  of  comfort,  quality  and  high  prices,  though 
with  this  latter,  it  ought  not  to  be.  It  Is  easy  thus 
to  see  that  the  picturesquely  disposed  inn  holds  its 
own  In  the  affections  of  the  American,  and  why  It  is 
not  the  least  of  England's  charms  for  the  tourist. 
The  sentimental  call  of  the  country  inn  to  the  traveller 
who  wants  picturesqueness  as  well  as  solid  comforts 
is  irresistible.  One  does  pay  though  for  its  pictur- 
esque accessories,  more  perhaps  than  is  really  justi- 
fiable. The  English  Inn  Is  often  an  illustration  of 
the  costliness  of  simplicity,  for  the  smallest  of  thatch- 
roofed  country  inns  is  frequently  a  big  surprise  in 
the  matter  of  prices. 

Twelve  shillings  a  day  Is  about  the  price  for  meals 
and  lodging  In  the  inn  of  the  average  big  town  in 
England.  This  seems  a  trifle  stiff  for  going  to  bed 
by  a  solitary  candle  and  also  being  charged  for  it 
in  the  bill.  It  is  not  only  inconvenient  to  go  to  bed 
by  a  candle,  but  galling  in  the  extreme  to  be  made 
to  pay  for  the  privilege,  and  this  archaic  custom  for 
paying  for  "  light  and  attendance  "  still  holds  good 
in  most  English  hotels,  the  exceptions  being  certain 


THE  COUNTRY  HOTELS  OF  EUROPE   303 

of  the  newer  ones  In  London.  The  charge  varies  in 
the  country  inn  from  a  sixpence  to  a  shilling  and 
sixpence,  according,  as  it  would  seem,  to  what  the 
traffic  will  stand. 

In  most  cases  it  is  a  woman  who  presides  over 
the  destinies  of  the  English  inn.  The  hotel  business 
is  more  nearly  a  woman's  business  in  England  than 
elsewhere.  It  is  the  "  Manageress  "  who  is  to  be 
seen  in  the  office  of  most  hotels,  both  great  and  small. 
This  has  much  to  do  with  making  that  "  home 
atmosphere  "  which  is  peculiarly  an  attribute  of  the 
English  hotel.  The  fact  that  the  English  carry  their 
environment,  one  might  almost  say  atmosphere,  about 
with  them  as  much  as  possible,  is  responsible  for  this 
effort  of  the  hotel  proprietor  to  create  what  is  com- 
monly known  a  "  home  from  home.''  This  Is  the 
English  Idea  of  hotel  life. 

Femininity  Is  the  keynote  at  the  little  English  Inn. 
A  maid  In  a  neat  dress  and  white  apron  and  cap, 
most  likely,  carries  your  hand  luggage  up  to  your 
room,  often  to  the  great  distress  of  the  chivalrous 
American  man  should  he  happen  to  be  an  adjunct  to 
the  party.  Under  such  circumstances  he  has  often 
been  known  to  do  the  porterage  himself. 

At  its  best,  the  English  inn  has  roses  clustering 
about  its  latticed  windows,  and  the  smell  of  sweet 
clover  comes  floating  In  from  the  meadows  below. 
It  is  delightful  to  rest  between  lavender-scented  sheets 
In  an  old-fashioned  English  inn,  and  while  the  first- 
class  English  bed  Is  the  best  In  the  housekeeping 
world,  it  Is  more  often  met  with  as  a  combination  of 


304      THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

a  ''  flock ''  mattress  on  top  of  a  featherbed.  The 
dressing-table  takes  up  the  best  window,  back  to 
the  street  (the  ideal  place  for  It,  by  the  way),  and 
white  dimity  hangings  look  cool,  too  cool  sometimes 
as  one  shivers  through  an  English  summer,  for  fires 
in  July  are  not  uncommon.  The  maid  brings  up  hot 
water  in  a  "  jug,"  and  for  the  bath  there  is  a  flat 
pie-dish-like,  tin  tub,  unless  one  has  sufiiclently 
adopted  the  custom  of  the  country  and  travels  with 
a  collapsible  one  of  rubber,  whose  tendency  is  to  fold 
up  unexpectedly  and  set  the  floor  awash. 

To  get  into  the  real  spirit  of  the  thing  a  guest 
at  an  English  inn  should  have  a  cup  of  tea  before 
rising.  This  the  maid  will  bring  up  on  call,  and  It 
will  not  be  forgotten  in  the  bill,  figuring  at  from 
sixpence  to  a  shilling,  but  In  spite  of  this  no  English 
woman  would  think  of  beginning  the  day  without  this 
stimulant,  and  even  the  mere  English  man  takes 
kindly  to  the  custom. 

The  "  coffee  room  ''  is  the  general  utility  room  of 
the  English  Inn.  Here  one  writes  letters,  sits,  smokes, 
reads  and  takes  one's  meals,  but  whatever  may  be 
the  disadvantage  of  dining  off  of  one  end  of  a  table 
at  which  another  Is  writing,  the  atmosphere  of  the 
coffee  room  is  comfortably  pleasing,  and  usually  its 
furnishings  are  enough  to  turn  the  woman  from  "  out 
West  "  into  a  collector  if  she  had  not  the  craze  before 
leaving  home.  The  furniture  is  apt  to  be  old  and 
massive  and  of  good  periods.  On  the  walls,  and  on 
the  inevitable  British  sideboard,  is  generally  a  dis- 
play of  pewter  and  old  English  china,  long  out  of 


THE  COUNTRY  HOTELS  OF  EUROPE    305 

print,  so  to  speak,  and  silver  or  plate  of  the  Sheffield 
variety.  No  English  Inn  Is  complete  without  a  glass 
case  of  stuffed  birds  or  beasts — or  It  may  be  fish; 
it  all  depends  upon  the  sporting  tastes  of  a  long  line 
of  former  proprietors,  for  such  accessories  are  usu- 
ally hand-me-downs.  There  Is  not  much  use  to  pump 
the  proprietor  as  to  the  purchase  of  these  relics; 
antiques  are  well  known  to  be  an  asset,  and  for  that 
reason  alone  he  will  be  averse  to  parting  with  them, 
if  Indeed  he  does  not  wish  to  keep  them  for  senti- 
mental reasons. 

At  the  more  pretentious  Inn  a  waiter  of  the  old 
type  is  sure  to  be  In  attendance  in  the  "  coffee  room  " ; 
solemn,  with  mutton-chop  whiskers,  a  fast  disappear- 
ing type  of  the  old-time  servitor. 

Breakfast  costs  what  one  wishes  to  pay  for  it. 
Coffee  (though  it  is  well  to  stick  to  tea  in  Britain), 
bacon  and  eggs,  marmalade  and  toast  are  the  staples. 
The  toast  will  be  cold,  though  this  will  not  be 
through  mistake  but  by  intent,  for  it  has  stood  in  the 
toast-rack  unbuttered,  as  is  the  wholesome  way,  to 
cool  off.  The  cost  may  be  two  shillings,  or  it  may 
rise  to  the  city  price  of  "  two  and  six,"  more  famil- 
iarly reckoned  as  half  a  crown.  At  times  it  may 
drop  to  one  and  nine  pence  or  some  such  uncouth 
figure,  but  not  often.  On  the  sideboard  are  arranged, 
in  that  class  of  inn  that  owns  to  the  solemn  waiter,  a 
varied  assortment  of  those  cold  "  joints  '*  that  so 
appeal  to  the  Britisher  as  a  breakfast  dish.  Thus, 
with  a  slice  of  cold  'am  or  mutton  or  a  ''  bit  of  fish," 
the  price  will  certainly  reach  the  highest  limit. 


3o6      THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

Dinner  at  the  country  inn  is  the  midday  meal,  and 
the  bill  of  fare  is  as  monotonous  as  a  tax  receipt — 
chiefly  boiled  mutton,  potatoes,  cabbage  and  one  of 
the  solid  English  varieties  of  pudding,  that  under 
different  names  bear  a  strong  family  resemblance. 

There  are  little  towns  where.  If  one  happens  in  on 
market  day,  such  a  meal  can  be  had  for  a  shilling, 
accompanied  with  a  glass  of  temperance  ale  at 
tuppence,  but  the  more  usual  price  will  be  two  shillings 
and  six  pence,  the  half-crown  being  the  most  popular 
and  hard-worked  coin  In  the  realm. 

Supper  at  night  is  practically  what  you  can  get. 
"  Whatever  you  like,  ma'am,"  is  only  a  formula  in 
the  mouth  of  the  solemn  waiter  or  the  neat  maid,  and 
soon  reduces  itself  to  a  chop  or  a  bit  of  cold  meat 
left  from  the  dinner's  "  joint,"  and.  If  you  are  late, 
and  the  village  butcher  shop  happens  to  be  closed, 
not  even  the  chop  will  be  forthcoming.  More  often 
than  not  it  is  cold  meat  and  cheese  combined  Into  a 
"  high-tea  "  with  the  help  of  the  ever  good  English 
brew,  at  a  cost  of  eighteen  pence  or  a  couple  of  shil- 
lings. The  bill  of  fare  of  the  English  Inn  Is  very 
inelastic  and  Is  apt  to  cool  the  enthusiasm  of  the 
American  traveller  brought  up  on  a  great  variety  of 
food.  One  does  get  used  to  It,  but  there  Is  always  a 
longing  for  something  different. 

The  automobile  has  been  a  missionary  to  the  Inn 
In  England,  and  is  directly  responsible  for  the 
Renaissance  of  the  country  post-house,  whose  vogue 
had  greatly  declined  with  the  passing  of  the  old 
coaching  days.     The  increased  prices  of  the  new  era 


^On  ^e  Cote  i?'Eme/»aa3-mRMAfiU 


THE  COUNTRY  HOTELS  OF  EUROPE   307 

are  sometimes  extortionate  for  the  return  one  gets, 
and  have  soared  until  the  picturesque  Inn  of  the  small 
town  Is  often  as  expensive  as  the  more  ambitious 
"  county  "  hotel  of  the  larger  communities. 

There  Is  always  a  "  county  "  hotel  In  each  county 
town.  It  Is  an  establishment  which  is  supposed  to 
be  patronised  by  the  swell  element  of  neighbouring 
country  houses  when  perforce  they  have  to  remain 
in  town.  Here  the  bill  of  the  stranger  will  fluctuate 
between  twelve  and  twenty  shillings  a  day,  especially 
if  the  proprietor  Is  ambitious  enough  to  attempt  to 
get  you  up  an  evening  meal  sufficiently  pretentious 
to  be  called  a  dinner. 

Happily  the  rule  of  the  old  coaching  days,  "  four 
bottles  of  port  to  four  horses,"  does  not  have  to  be 
imitated  by  the  owner  of  a  60  H.P.  touring  car,  but 
one  pays  in  other  ways  for  the  privilege  of  being 
treated  as  a  *'  gentleman,"  which,  according  to  the 
tradition  of  the  British  innkeeper,  is  that  you  must 
be  served,  as  nearly  as  possible,  in  the  manner  in 
which  you  are  supposed  to  live  at  home.  You  also 
pay  for  this  in  the  bill. 

If  one  will  not  expect  too  much  from  the  food  and 
is  not  looking  for  modern  conveniences,  the  English 
inn  will  serve  one  very  well.  In  winter  the  cosy 
coffee  room  of  an  English  inn  is  a  most  attractive 
spot  as  one  comes  in  out  of  a  November  fog  and 
huddles  around  the  blaze  of  an  open  fire,  the  tea 
kettle  singing  on  the  hob,  while  the  maid  Is  hurried  off 
to  "  air  the  beds," — damp  sheets  are  the  bogie  of 
the  English  housekeeper,  and  the  opening  up  and 


3o8      THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

warming  of  the  bed  amounts  almost  to  a  religious 
ceremony  in  the  humid  little  isle.  What  a  pleasant 
antidote  this  is  for  the  chills  outside !  In  some  inns 
that  hold  to  old  customs,  the  long-handled,  brass 
warming-pan,  filled  with  glowing  coals,  is  still  passed 
under  the  bed  coverings  in  an  effort  to  dry  them  out 
before  the  guest  retires.  In  England  one  can  often 
vary  a  stay  at  some  quaint  little  riverside  inn,  if  there 
is  a  desire  to  sample  the  fishing,  for  the  proprietor 
usually  has  manorial  rights  which  cover  the  taking  of 
fish  for  a  mile  or  two  along  the  stream.  You  can 
hire  a  rod,  a  small  boy  and  a  boat  and  be  lucky 
enough,  perhaps,  to  bring  back  a  trout  or  a  pike  for 
dinner.  In  any  of  the  great  hunting  'shires  one  can 
hire  a  mount  at  the  local  inn  and  follow  the  hounds 
of  a  famous  hunt,  a  free  and  democratic  amusement 
open  to  all  under  certain  conditions.  If  a  good  golf 
links  is  in  proximity  to  a  comfortable  inn  an  ideal 
combination  is  made  for  one  who  would  like  to  take 
his,  or  her,  pleasures  quietly.  All  these  things  are 
possible  to  the  stranger  once  welcomed  under  the 
hospitable  roof  of  the  English  inn. 

The  English  inn  has  long  overshadowed  its  coun- 
terpart on  the  Continent,  but  the  small  French  country 
hotel  is  coming  Into  Its  own,  largely  through  the 
Touring  Club  de  France,  which  has  done  great  work 
In  Improving  the  French  hotel  of  all  grades.  Espe- 
cially has  the  small  hotel  of  the  countryside  benefited 
under  Its  tutelage  In  the  past  ten  years,  and  even  If 
it  has  not  always  risen  to  the  height  of  Installing 
the  chambres  hygieniques,  advocated  by  the  beneficent 


THE  COUNTRY  HOTELS  OF  EUROPE   309 

T.C.F.,  the  whole  tone  and  aspect  of  things  has  been 
put  on  a  more  livable  basis,  while  those  cabalistic 
letters  "  W.C.,"  opposite  the  name  of  a  hotel  in  the 
hotel  guide  of  the  T.C.F.,  indicate  improved  san- 
itary arrangements  of  a  kind  that  scarcely  existed  a 
few  years  ago. 

The  country  hotel  or  auberge  of  France  (the  word 
inn  does  not  fit  in  for  the  nomenclature  of  a  small 
French  hostelry)  has  quite  as  much  charm  on  inti- 
mate acquaintance  as  its  counterpart  in  Britain, 
though  its  exterior  is  often  plain,  and,  at  first  glance, 
unattractive.  For  all  this  the  lone  woman  traveller 
may  drop  into  any  French  countryside  hotel,  no  mat- 
ter how  humble  it  may  appear,  with  perfect  confi- 
dence and  propriety,  and  be  assured  of  finding  a 
good  bed,  good  cooking,  good  food  and  reasonable 
prices. 

However  you  may  arrive  at  the  French  hotel,  by 
the  hotel  'bus  from  the  station,  by  the  omnibus  of  the 
vtlle,  or  in  your  own  automobile,  you  will  most  fre- 
quently drive  into  the  courtyard — sometimes  a  gar- 
den, but  more  often  paved  with  cobblestones,  with 
the  stables  lined  up  on  one  side.  The  expectant 
garqon  rings  the  big  bell  that  hangs  beside  the  en- 
trance and  the  patron  comes  to  the  door  to  welcome 
you;  as  likely  he  is  the  chef,  too,  in  white  apron  and 
cap ;  the  proprietor  is  usually  the  chef  himself  in  the 
country  hotel  in  France,  in  which  case  you  may  count 
upon  it  that  the  food  will  be  good.  The  rooms  may 
seem  bare  after  the  plethora  of  furniture  of  the 
English  inn,  but  its  warm,  waxed  floors,  as  in  the 


3IO      THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

north,  or  the  glazed  tiles  of  the  south,  are  more 
hygienic  than  the  carpets  under  foot  that  the  English 
insist  upon  at  home.  The  bedroom  is  as  severe  as 
a  convent  cell,  and  the  bed  resembles  a  sarcophagus, 
piled  so  high  with  many  mattresses  that  it  takes  a 
gymnastic  turn  to  get  in.  The  sheets  are  of  linen, 
sometimes  old,  hand-woven  heirlooms  of  fascinating 
softness,  sometimes  unbleached  and  of  a  board-like 
thickness.  The  frugal  French  housekeeper  counts 
on  the  life  of  a  sheet  being  a  quarter  of  a  century 
and  buys  sturdy  stuff. 

The  washing  arrangements  are  usually  microscopic, 
and  the  bathroom  non-existent.  A  demand  for  hot 
water  meets  with  but  slow  response,  but  this  is  only 
because  the  kitchen  fire  has  to  be  made  up  and  a 
casserole  or  broc  of  water  heated.  The  man  cham- 
bermaid one  must  put  up  with ;  there  is  no  reason  for 
getting  shocked  over  it,  he  takes  it  all  as  a  matter 
of  course,  so  why  should  not  you.  There  will  be 
only  a  solitary  candle  for  light  in  the  bedroom,  in  spite 
of  the  fact  that  most  country  hotels  in  France  have 
electric  lights  on  the  ground  floor.  On  a  table  in  the 
hall  is  ranged  a  long  row  of  candles  in  shining  brass 
candlesticks,  which  you  set  aglow  from  the  little 
night  lamp — a  wick  set  in  a  cork,  floating,  lighted,  in 
a  receptacle  of  colza  oil,  or  by  the  more  dangerous 
expedient  of  a  cotton  swab  dipped  in  alcohol,  being 
first  lighted  at  a  whale-oil  lamp.  Matches  are  quite 
as  much  of  a  luxury  in  France  as  hot  water. 

There  will  be  no  sitting-room,  rarely  a  reading- 
room,  smoking-room  or  the  like.     The  cafe,  attached 


THE  COUNTRY  HOTELS  OF  EUROPE   311 

to  the  hotel  or  located  nearby,  supplies  all  these 
wants.  For  the  woman  traveller  the  French  hotel 
lacks  many  things,  but  this  arises  from  the  fact  that 
Frenchwomen  as  a  class  travel  only  on  rare  occa- 
sions, and  seldom  for  pleasure. 

It  is  quite  possible  that  you  will  be  the  only  woman 
at  the  long  table  in  the  saile  a  manger,  but  do  not 
let  that  disconcert  you,  for  though  there  is  a  long 
line  of  commis-voyaigeurs,  or  commercial  travellers, 
down  either  side,  the  chances  are  that  they  will  not 
so  much  as  waver  an  eyelid  in  your  direction.  The 
provincial  European — the  Frenchman  in  particular — 
when  occupied  with  his  dinner  preserves  an  Oriental 
oblivion  to  the  presence  of  woman;  he  makes  a  seri- 
ous business  of  eating  (the  objectionable  quality  be- 
ing that  he  does  so  noisily),  and  he  is  not  easily 
diverted  from  this  purpose,  not  even  to  stare  at  the 
unchaperoned  American  girl.  The  commis-voyageur 
has  his  uses ;  when  in  doubt  as  to  the  choice  of  a  hotel, 
follow  the  French  commercial  traveller  and  his  brass- 
bound  trunks,  for  he  picks  out  the  best  cuisine  as 
unerringly  as  a  divining  rod  points  to  hidden 
water. 

The  dinner  will  be  excellent,  of  a  quality  far 
superior  to  that  of  the  usual  tourist  hotel,  and  it  is 
to  French  hotels  of  this  class  that  one  must  go  for 
typical  French  food.  It  is  not  the  cooking  of  Paris, 
which,  with  all  its  excellence.  Is  monotonous. 
Throughout  France  each  petit  pays  has  Its  special 
dishes,  and,  the  French  being  patriotic  above  all  else, 
It  Is  but  natural  that  the  proprietor  should  take  pride 


312      THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

in  setting  before  his  guests  the  plats  which  are  cele- 
brated In  the  neighbourhood. 

Dejeuner  and  dinner  are  always  on  the  table  d'hote 
plan ;  even  In  the  most  modest  village  hotels  they  are 
always  meals  of  ceremony,  of  from  six  to  eight 
courses,  dejeuner  being  the  more  pretentious  of  the 
two.  There  is  only  one  complaint  to  be  made  of  such 
bountiful  and  uniformly  good  meals;  It  Is  that  the 
two  are  too  much  alike  in  variety  and  quantity, 
dejeuner  differs  from  dinner  only  in  the  omission  of 
soup  and  the  Inclusion  of  cheese. 

In  the  cider  country  of  Normandy  and  Brittany 
carafes  of  golden  cider  are  included  at  each  meal; 
elsewhere  the  wine  of  the  country — white  or  red,  as 
may  be  the  most  plentiful  cm  of  the  region — are 
served  ad  lib,  or  at  least,  a  discretion,  without  extra 
charge. 

After-dinner  coffee  must  be  sought  at  the  cafe, 
never  far  away  from  the  hotel,  perhaps  even  located 
under  the  same  roof.  Early  hours  are  the  rule  in  a 
small  French  town,  and  by  ten  o'clock  the  great  portal 
of  the  hotel  is  locked  up  tight.  More  than  one 
automobilist  has  had  to  sleep  In  his  car  under  the 
windows  of  a  wished-for  hotel  In  France  because  no 
one  would  be  disturbed  to  let  him  in,  though  he 
tooted  his  horn  like  the  last  trump.  The  French 
landlord  is  not  so  keen  to  corral  the  stranger  and  his 
purse  as  his  Teuton,  Swiss  or  Italian  neighbours 
across  the  Alps,  so  that  It  is  well  to  arrive  early  at 
one's  stopping-place  for  the  night. 

Some   of  the   most   interesting  of  small   French 


THE  COUNTRY  HOTELS  OF  EUROPE    313 

hotels  are  those  of  Normandy  and  the  valley  of  the 
Seine.  Old  Norman  timbered  hostelries  with  medi- 
aeval fagades,  garden  courtyards  and  waxed  floors 
are  at  their  best  in  towns  like  Les  Andelys  and 
Louviers. 

Out  in  Brittany,  the  westernmost  point  of  France, 
the  passing  tourist  is  less  frequent  than  elsewhere; 


it  is,  furthermore,  the  poorest  part  of  France,  and 
for  these  two  reasons  the  country  hotels  are  not  up 
to  the  standard  of  appointments  and  cookery  of  the 
best  of  French  traditions. 

Across  mid-France,  from  Paris  south  to  Lyons,  and 
from  the  Bay  of  Biscay  to  the  Alps,  are  found  the 


314      THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

best   provincial   hotels    of   Europe,    with    the   vraie 
cuisine  Franqaise, 

In  the  region  of  the  Pyrenees  the  country  hotel  is 
all  that  it  should  be,  and  often  highly  modernised  in 
some  respects  because  of  the  radiating  influence  of  a 


chain  of  watering  places  which  stretches  out  prac- 
tically the  whole  length  of  the  Franco-Spanish 
frontier. 

Along  the  Mediterranean  coast  one  finds  the  worst 
class  of  purely  country  hotels  in  France.  It  is  not 
that  they  can  be  termed  bad,  but  it  is  certain  that  the 
hotels  of  the  Midi  lay  themselves  open  to  criticism. 


THE  COUNTRY  HOTELS  OF  EUROPE    315 

It  is  the  influence  of  the  Southern  temperament  that 
is  prone  to  take  life  easy.  A  lack  of  water  is  every- 
where noticeable,  and  the  tiled  floors  seem  cheerless, 
after  the  waxed  parquets  of  the  north,  while  the 
cuisine  of  garlic  and  olive  oil  is  distasteful  to  many. 
Thus  it  is  that  an  otherwise  fascinating  country  suf- 
fers through  the  deficiencies  of  its  hotels,  and  until  the 
Riviera  is  reached,  with  its  great  hotels  catering 
largely  to  foreigners,  and  which  for  the  most  part 
are  nothing  French  at  all,  the  hotels  of  southeastern 
France  are  by  no  means  to  be  classed  with  the  many 
good  things  that  are  French. 

The  small  Italian  albergo,  or  the  more  humble 
trattoria,  has  not  the  endearing  qualities  of  the  Eng- 
lish inn,  nor  of  the  French  country  hotel.  It  may 
have  far  more  picturesqueness,  it  might  once  have 
been  a  palace  or  a  convent  where  one  may  even  dine 
in  the  old  cloister,  or  it  may  possess  a  crumbling 
marble  loggia,  or  a  classic  garden  with  a  carven 
fountain  and  much  battered  sculpture,  but  it  rarely 
inspires  one  with  the  desire  to  end  a  wandering,  ex- 
cept to  gain  a  brief  respite  from  a  strenuous  exist- 
ence as  a  tourist.  Things  are  casual  in  Italy  at  the 
best,  and  in  the  countryside  one  gets  the  lack  of  order 
and  method,  unsoftened  by  any  modernity.  The 
comfort  that  even  the  most  modest  English  inn  pro- 
vides is  entirely  lacking.  The  country  hotel  of  Italy 
is  like  Italy  as  a  whole,  delightful  to  see  and  to  add 
to  one's  recollections  of  experiences,  but  hardly  suit- 
able for  making  oneself  at  home  and  settling  down. 

The  people  add  not  a  little  to  the  restlessness  that 


3i6      THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

pervades  the  Italian  country  hotel.  They  are  charm- 
ingly bright,  and  gredt  one  with  a  spontaneity  and 
genuine  pleasure  that  is  most  agreeable,  but  stranger 
people  who  wander  about  the  world  for  pleasure  only 
are  never  ceasing  objects  of  curiosity,  and  when  one 
leaves  the  beaten  track  the  scrutiny  and  unceasing 
attention  that  one  gets  becomes  tiresome,  no  matter 
how  good-natured  and  well  meant  they  may  be. 
These  attentions  are  met  on  all  sides,  from  willing 
but  incompetent  hotel  help,  from  the  loafers  in  the 
village,  from  every  one.  It  is  not  ill-natured,  but 
annoying,  sometimes  even  embarrassing. 

The  word  cosy,  or  even  comfortable,  cannot  be 
applied  to  the  Italian  albergo.  As  a  rule  it  is  bare 
and  gaunt,  with  stone  or  marble  floors,  no  place  to 
sit,  not  even  a  cafe  attachment  as  in  France.  The 
Italians  have  not  the  cafe  habit  except  in  the  cities  and 
big  towns. 

There  is  no  swinging  Inn  sign  in  Italy.  A  little 
shrine  beside  the  entrance,  holding  a  statue  of  the 
madonna,  takes  the  place  of  it,  or  it  may  be  that  there 
is  a  sacred  picture  frescoed  on  the  wall  with  a  swing- 
ing lamp  before  it.  Invariably,  across  the  fagade, 
in  bold,  black  letters,  will  be  blazoned  the  name  of 
the  hotel. 

One  must  do  in  Italy  what  is  never  done  in  France 
or  England — bargain  for  prices,  not  so  much  for  the 
reason  that  there  is  danger  of  extortion,  though  there 
is  a  tendency  everywhere  in  Italy  to  advance  prices 
to  English-speaking  people,  as  from  the  fact  that 
there  are  no  fixed  charges.     The  proprietor  of  a  little 


THE  COUNTRY  HOTELS  OF  EUROPE    317 

roadside  albergo  often  does  not  know  what  to  give 
one,  in  other  words,  how  much  one  is  willing  to  pay 
and  what  would  be  considered  a  proper  equivalent. 
On  such  a  basis  of  reckoning  it  is  natural  that  the 
traveller  is  obliged  to  help  him  out. 

Usually  there  is  no  table  d'hote,  or  tavola  rotunda, 
in  the  Italian  hotel  of  any  grade,  but  the  highest  usu- 
ally serves  meals  a  la  carte,  although  sometimes  there 
may  be  a  luncheon  or  midday  meal  which  one  can 
order  as  a  whole,  or  from  which  one  may  select  only  a 
dish  or  two.  Often  you  wander  into  the  kitchen  and 
see  for  yourself  what  is  forthcoming  in  the  way  of 
food.  The  great  stone-flagged  room  seems  full  of 
people,  relatives  of  various  degrees  and  ages,  with  a 
grandmother  or  two 
hovering  over  a  cop- 
per brazier  of  char- 
coal If  the  weather  be 
cold. 

In  Italy  It  Is  al- 
ways safe  to  ask  for  a 
veal  cutlet  and  some 
form  of  pasti — maca- 
roni, tagliatelll,  spa- 
ghetti or  what  not,  and 
this  with  a  long,  thin- 
necked  bottle  of  ChiantI  and  Gorgonzola  cheese 
makes  as  ample  and  excellent  an  Italian  meal  as  can 
be  got,  and  ought  not  to  cost  over  a  franc  and  a  half. 

The  sleeping-room  of  the  humble  Italian  albergo 
usually  has  a  portrait  of  Garibaldi  and  chromos  of 


3i8      THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

the  reigning  royal  family  on  the  walls.  One's  bed 
is  made  up  after  arrival,  which  is  not  a  bad  custom. 
The  washing  outfit  is  precariously  hung  on  an  iron 
stand  that  suggest  a  jardiniere,  and  is  of  tin.  A  chair 
or  two  and  a  small  rug  about  completes  the  furnish- 
ings. On  each  window  ledge  is  a  flat,  red  cushion, 
which  is  convenient  for  following  the  Italian  fashion 
and  spending  your  spare  moments  hanging  out  of 
the  window,  the  cushion  thus  protecting  your  elbows. 

In  spite  of  a  look  of  general  disorder,  things  are 
actually  clean  enough,  and  while  in  sanitary  necessities 
the  small  Italian  hotel  is  primitive,  Italy  all  around  is 
improving  in  this  respect,  and  is  perhaps  no  more 
backward  than  many  other  parts  of  Europe. 

The  Italian  hotel  of  the  towns  is  fully  a  third 
dearer  than  the  French  establishment  of  the  same 
grade.  A  dejeuner  that  in  France  usually  costs  two 
francs,  fifty  centimes,  in  Italy  becomes  three,  and 
even  four.  There  are  some  five,  six  and  seven  lire 
a  day  Italian  hotels  to  be  found  in  many  places,  which 
tourists  rush  on  top  speed,  but  the  general  impression 
that  Italy  is  cheap  does  not  hold  good  when  com- 
pared with  what  one  pays  for  the  same  sort  of  thing 
in  France. 

The  trail  of  the  tourist  is  over  most  things  Swiss, 
but  there  are  good,  genuine  country  hotels  in  Switzer- 
land, patronised  principally  by  Swiss  tourists.  The 
Swiss  really  do  tour  their  own  country,  and  do  it 
economically,  by  foot  or  on  bicycle,  leaving  it  for  the 
visitors  to  support  the  big  hotels.  It  is  on  a  walk- 
ing tour  that  one  comes  across  these  little  hotels  in 


THE  COUNTRY  HOTELS  OF  EUROPE   319 

villages  that  have  no  too  well  advertised  mountain 
background  to  draw  the  summer  rabble.  One  type 
Is  a  square,  low,  two-storied  building,  with  a  top- 
heavy  roof  of  weather-stained  brown  tiles  and  solid 
wood  green  shutters  to  the  windows  and  a  big  brass 
handle  on  the  door.  It  stands  on  the  village  square, 
the  church  to  one  side  with  a  big  tree  shading  the 
door,  against  which  lean  a  half-dozen  bicycles.  It 
is  neat,  plain  and  attractive,  and  though  perhaps 
within  sight  of  a  great  fashionable  resort  Its  Inclusive 
prices  hover  between  five  and  seven  francs  a  day. 

The  food  Is  a  bit  monotonous  and  there  Is  always 
an  odour  of  string  beans  and  pork  In  the  air.  This 
Is  a  dish  that  can  be  counted  upon  with  almost  dally 
regularity.  The  universal  Swiss  breakfast  of  coffee, 
rolls  and  honey  is  apt  to  be  the  most  agreeable  meal 
of  the  day.  Barley  soup  is  another  staple  that  loses 
its  value  by  repetition.  The  truth  is,  Swiss  cooking 
is  not  good,  but  there  Is  always  milk  and  the  real 
Swiss  cheese  of  Gruyere,  and,  as  a  last  resort,  the 
cheap  and  nourishing  milk  chocolate  with  which  to  fill 
In  any  deficiencies. 

It  is  possible  to  get  a  pension  rate  at  a  Swiss  coun- 
try inn  for  five  francs  a  day,  and  be  comfortable  and 
well-cared  for,  but  this  would  be  In  one  of  the  little 
villages  on  some  of  the  high  plateaux,  such  as  the 
pastoral  country  where  the  Gruyere  cheese  comes 
from,  one  of  the  most  charming,  unspoiled  corners  of 
Switzerland.  It  may  happen  though  that  the  little 
rural  inn  may  refuse  to  take  you  In  during  the  haying 
season  on  account  of  a  3carcity  of  help.     The  pro- 


320      THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

prietress  will  shake  her  head  and  say  how  sorry  she 
is,  but  servants,  family  and  everybody  have  had  to 
stop  work  to  gather  in  the  hay,  which,  next  to  tour- 
ists, is  Switzerland's  main  source  of  revenue. 

If  one  will  browse  around  the  larger  Swiss  cities 
there  are  modest  hotels  to  be  found  hidden  away  in 
tiny  squares,  patronised  by  country  people  who  still 
wear  the  stilted  coiffes  and  laced  bodices  with  plas- 


trons of  clanking  chains,  the  insignia  of  some  far 
off  mountain  canton.  Walking  parties  of  German 
students,  who  do  Switzerland  on  the  closest  margin 
of  all  tourists,  find  these  places  out  readily  enough. 
A  room  for  a  franc  or  a  franc  and  a  half,  dinner  for 
but  little  more  and  supper  for  a  little  less,  brings  the 
round  figure  to  something  less  than  p  dollar.     Such 


THE  COUNTRY  HOTELS  OF  EUROPE    321 

a  hotel  may  be  a  picturesque  old  Gothic  house,  dating 
from  the  fifteenth  century,  the  windows  bright  with 
growing  plants.  Everything  will  be  clean,  for  this  is 
not   the    least    of    the  ^^^ 

virtues    of    the    Swiss,  V-m 

and    while    the    meals  ^^VV' 

will  be  what  the 
French  call  unsympa- 
thetic they  will  likely 
enough  be  eaten  in 
company  with  a  party 
of  gay  young  folk  on 
their  way  down  from 
a  week's  climb  over 
some  mountain  pass, 
with  their  alpenstocks 
and  their  Tyrolean 
hats  wreathed  with 
Alpine  wild  flowers, 
the  girls  with  nail- 
shod  boots,  sweaters 
and  knee-length  skirts,  who,  like  their  male  com- 
panions, are  loaded  down  en  tour  with  heavy  ruck- 
sacks strapped  over  their  shoulders. 

The  prevailing  characteristics  of  Swiss  inns  are 
German.  So  much  is  this  so  that  the  same  conditions 
are  met  with  in  the  small  inn  of  the  Bavarian  High- 
lands and  in  the  picturesque  Black  Forest. 

The  German  country  hotel  is  not  so'  pliable  as 
those  of  other  countries  In  adapting  Itself  to  the 
stranger.     A  lone  woman  on  a  tour  of  exploration 


^.^.^ 


322      THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

will  find  less  geniality  here.  Germany,  however,  is 
making  a  big  bid  for  the  American  tourist,  and  the  de- 
sire to  attract  American  dollars  their  way  is  spread- 
ing to  the  countryside  from  the  cities  and  watering 
places. 

Nothing  can  be  more  picturesque  than  the  German 
gasthaus,  with  its  ornate  swinging  sign,  its  front  cov- 
ered with  half-defaced  paintings,  scrolls,  dragons  and 
flowers,  with  the  name  writ  large  in  decorative  Ger- 
man script. 

You  go  to  bed  in  a  lofty  chamber,  chilly  even  in 
midsummer — stone  flags  form  the  flooring — and  you 
need  the  fat  featherbed  which  is  the  coverlid  in  order 
to  keep  warm.  The  bed  is  vast  and  fully  four  feet 
from  the  floor,  and  the  heavy  linen  sheets  feel  clammy 
to  the  touch.  The  big  porcelain  stove  of  blue  tiles 
blocks  up  an  entire  corner,  and  coffee  and  rye 
bread  is  your  breakfast.  German  food  is  good  on 
the  whole,  if  one  likes  cold  meats  and  a  variety  of 
excellent  salads,  stewed  fruit  with  duck  and,  of  course, 
sauerkraut  and  sausages  of  all  lengths. 

There  is  nothing  lightsome  about  the  speiskarte  of 
the  small  German  hotel.  An  unprejudiced,  travelled 
German  will  tell  you  that  there  is  nothing  in  Ger- 
many so  good  as  the  country  hotel  of  France,  though 
he  himself  may  appreciate  German  food  and  the 
manner  of  its  cooking  far  more.  The  mark  being 
valued  at  twenty-five  per  cent  more  than  the  franc, 
prices,  too,  in  Germany  are  higher  than  in  France, 
Switzerland  or  even  Italy. 

The  country  gastham  of  the  Black  Forest  does  not 


THE  COUNTRY  HOTELS  OF  EUROPE   323 

usually  get  a  big  tourist  clientele,  but  if  one  wants  to 
get  in  touch  with  the  life  of  picturesque  Germany — 
where  legends  are  still  a  topic  of  conversation  and 
there  still  exists  a  belief  in  fairies — in  contrast  with 
the  rapacity  that  has  filled  the  valley  of  the  Rhine 
with  factory  chimneys,  they  will  do  well  to  lay  out 
some  Black  Forest  inns  on  their  itinerary. 

Their  architecture  is  much  the  same  as  is  seen  in 
the  peasant  homes  of  Switzerland,  of  the  Bavarian 
highlands  and  of  the  Austrian  Tyrol.     A  low-spread- 


ing gable  forms  a  frontage  which  is  broken  with 
rows  of  narrow  windows,  and  the  stables  are  usually 
found  under  the  same  roof.  In  the  public  room, 
partly  a  sitting-room  and  partly  a  drinking  hall,  the 
walls  are  of  a  blackened  wainscoting,  and  one  sits 
on  a  carved  oak  bench  with  a  high  back  before  a 
table  as  massive  as  a  monument. 

The  proprietor  usually  serves  himself.  He  wears 
a  skullcap  of  embroidered  velvet,  home-knit  grey 
stockings,  knee  trousers  and  an  apron.  He  smokes  a 
pipe  that  might  have  been  handed  down  from  his 
ancestors  with  the  house,  and  his  manners  are  brusque 


324      THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

and  independent,  though  for  all  this  he  Is  sincere  and 
will  not  overcharge.  He  and  his  family  run  the 
hotel  with  the  help  of  an  extra  girl  or  two  from 
the  village.  Women  servants  are  the  rule  outside 
the  larger  towns,  for  the  business  is  too  poorly  paid 
to  attract  men.  The  maids  clatter  about  in  high- 
heeled  wooden  shoes,  in  the  ugly  dress  of  the  women 
of  the  Black  Forest,  woolen  skirts  to  the  knees,  a 
laced  bodice  over  a  white  chemisette  and  a  stiff  wire 
coiffe  of  black  or  coloured  ribbons. 

On  Sundays  one  can  study  local  conditions,  if  one 
can  stand  the  smoke,  in  the  big  room.  Here  the 
peasant  folk  meet  and  dance  and  eat  and  drink  coffee 
and  beer.  The  fun  is  boisterous,  and  sometimes  dis- 
turbs the  live  stock,  as  there  is  only  a  half  partition 
between  the  stables  and  the  apartment. 

Holland  has  the  most  expensive  small  hotels  and 
Belgium  the  cheapest  in  the  comparative  European 
scale,  but  the  country  hotel  of  the  land  of  big  wind- 
mills and  small  houses  gives  the  biggest  breakfast 
of  any. 

You  enter  the  dining-room  of  a  real  Dutch  hotel 
and  find  the  long  table  set  out  with  various  Dutch 
cheeses,  an  assortment  of  Dutch  sausages,  brown 
bread,  white  bread,  sweet  rolls  and  excellent  coffee — 
which  is  spoiled  by  the  serving  with  cold  milk.  The 
Dutch  hotel  proprietor  after  all  gives  you  something 
for  your  money,  and  all  the  other  meals  beneath  his 
roof  are  In  proportion. 

In  Belgium  one  gets  on  the  trail  of  the  table 
d'hote  again.     The  French  influence  is  paramount 


THE  COUNTRY  HOTELS  OF  EUROPE    325 


here,  but  with  a  slightly  German  flavour  to  things, 
beer  taking  the  place  of  wine  at  table.  The  beer, 
however,  is  included  in  the  price  of  the  meal,  and 
at  from  five  to  eight  francs  a  day,  Belgium,  one  of 
the  cheapest  but  one  of  the  wealthiest  countries  of 
Europe,  cares  for  one  very  well  indeed. 

Those  two  old  Flemish  cities,  Bruges  and  Ghent, 
have  long  been  favourite  summer  places  for  the  Eng- 
lish who  want  a  cheaper  holiday  than  that  afforded 
by  many  places  in  their  own  country.  Dollar-a-day 
rates  were  once  not  uncommon  and  are  still  to  be  had, 
but  too  much  popularity 
has  had  a  tendency  to  boost 
prices. 

The  American  woman 
doing  Europe  will  have  to 
become  more  of  a  hardy 
traveller  than  the  average 
before  she  will  want  to 
rough  it  in  the  countryside 
of  Spain.  The  old  custom 
of  carrying  one's  food 
about  with  them  to  be 
cooked  at  the  particular 
place  at  which  they  might  arrive  for  the  night  is 
giving  way  to  the  more  precarious  method  of  depend- 
ing on  the  supplies  of  the  primitive  fonda,  which  at 
its  best,  in  the  large  towns,  is  often  not  bad,  but  which 
is  awful  in  the  country. 

The  hotels  of  the  larger  Spanish  towns  are  con- 
stantly   improving — there    is    a    **  Ritz "    even    at 


Tn  C^+aloniA 


326      THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

Madrid.  Often  the  small  Spanish  hotel  begins  on 
the  second  floor,  to  which  you  arrive  by  entering 
through  a  courtyard  filled  with  country  carts  and 
mules,  finally  mounting  a  long  stairway  to  the  hotel 
proper.  You  just  order  "  dinner,**  without  specify- 
ing what,  and  you  get  a  good  meal  at  four  or  five 
pesetas.  You  raise  your  eyebrows  over  the  bill,  but 
it  Is  your  own  fault.  You  could  have  ordered  half 
of  the  bountiful  meal  for  half  the  price  If  you  had 
known.  In  hotels,  as  in  life,  most  of  our  troubles 
come  as  the  result  of  not  knowing. 


EUROP 
iOTEC 


HOTEL  AN  AMUSEMENT  ENTERPRISE 

CHAINS  OF  GREAT  TOURIST  HOTELS 

COSMOPOLITAN   CLIENTELE 

woman's  influence  ON  EUROPEAN  HOTELS 

EXCLUSIVENESS  OF  THE  FOREIGN  HOTEL 

GERMANS  THE  BEST  HOTELIERS 

GERMAN-SWISS  METHODS 

HOTEL  AMUSEMENTS 

MUSIC  A  DRAWING  CARD 

HOTELS  AS  PEACEMAKERS 

CATERING    FOR    ALL    NATIONS 

BATHS  AND  "  LIFTS  " 

CHARM  OF  ALL  THINGS  FRENCH 

FRENCH  HOTEL  PROPRIETOR 

INDIVIDUALITY  THE  KEYNOTE  IN  FRANCE 

ENGLISH  HOTELS 

SCOTCH  "  HYDROS  " 

"  GRAND  AND  PALACE  "  HOTELS 

ROYALTY  AS  AN  ADVERTISEMENT 

PARIS  A  CITY  OF  SMALL   HOTELS 

MODERN  HOTELS  OF  PARIS 

USEFUL  TERMINUS  HOTELS 

A  HOTEL  OF  THE  SAHARA 

HOTELS  OF  BISKRA 

EGYPT  AND  ITS  MODERN  HOTELS 


XIII 

WOMAN  AND   THE   EUROPEAN   HOTEL 

The  great  modern  hotels  of  Europe  differ  funda- 
mentally from  the  same  thing  in  America  In  being 
primarily  great  amusement  enterprises.  Their  com- 
mercialism Is  subordinated  always  to  entertainment 
of  a  pleasure-making  kind,  and  their  edifices  have  been 
designed  especially  for  the  demands  of  society  en 
tour,  as  well  with  regard  to  luxury  as  a  divertisement. 

There  are  chains  of  these  big  tourist  hotels,  such 
as  the  Bertolini  establishments,  the  Ritz's,  the  Carl- 
ton's, the  Gordon's  and  the  like,  as  well  as  combina- 
tions that  do  not  openly  proclaim  their  allied  identity 
under  one  name. 

The  object  of  founding  hotels  In  series  Is  that  they 
may  be  planted  around  so  as  to  catch  the  same 
clientele  in  the  different  stages  of  Its  journeyings. 
The  policy  of  their  owners  Is  to  pass  a  client  along 
from  one  affiliated  establishment  to  another,  and  by 
this  well-thought-out  scheme  the  traveller  can  do  a 
large  part  of  Europe,  and  some  of  Africa,  under  the 
same  hotel  management.  If  Ingenious  and  planful,  and 
if  the  enterprise,  In  Its  various  branches,  was  success- 
ful In  the  first  Instance  In  making  the  right  Impression. 
This  Is  a  combination  that  works  to  the  advantage  of 
both  the  hotel  and  the  guest. 

329 


330      THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

The  season  for  most  of  the  big  hotels  Is  limited; 
it  would  be  Impossible  for  such  to  run  continuously 
at  the  high  pressure  of  comfort  and  service  demanded 
for  one  short  season  of  but  two  or  three  months, 
as  is  often  the  case.  The  resourceful  European 
hotelier,  beside  whom  his  American  confrere  is  in  the 
Kindergarten  class  when  it  comes  to  the  science  of 
tourisme,  simply  transfers  his  staff  from  his  summer 
hotel  in  the  Alps  to  his  palm-shaded  winter  house 
on  the  Mediterranean,  and  baits  It  with  the  same 
attractions,  when,  sooner  or  later,  the  same  school 
of  patrons  comes  nibbling  along.  This  pleases  nearly 
everybody,  for  the  reason  that  a  large  majority  want 
their  amusement  purveyed  to  them  with  a  minimum 
of  effort. 

The  cosmopolitan  type  of  hotel  simplifies  the  lan- 
guage difficulty  also.  It  is  in  a  position  to  stand 
between  its  patrons  of  many  lands  and  the  friction 
which  might  arise  by  their  coming  in  contact  with  a 
strange  tongue  In  a  "  foreign  "  hotel.  So  Intimate 
has  become  the  function  of  the  great  hotel  that  to 
visit  one  or  another  is  like  going  from  one  big  house- 
party  to  another.  Friends  arrange  to  meet  at  the 
same  hotel  whilst  travelling,  and  congenial  parties 
link  up  with  one  another  as  they  go  from  some 
"  Grand  "  hotel  to  some  "  Palace  "  hotel,  whether 
at  the  Golden  Horn,  Gibraltar,  Cairo  or  Copenhagen. 

The  woman  tourist  is  largely  responsible  for  the 
present  status  of  the  great  hotel  of  Europe,  If  not, 
in  many  cases,  for  Its  actual  being.  To  a  large  extent 
many  have  been  designed  for  woman's  convenience 


WOMAN  AND  THE  EUROPEAN  HOTEL     331 

and  pleasure.  Their  salons  and  corridors  are  prac- 
tically the  show-rooms  for  the  creations  of  the  dress- 
makers and  milliners  of  London,  Paris  and  New 
York.  Members  of  the  elite  society  of  the  four 
quarters  of  the  world  are  but  mannikins  who  exhibit 
and  advertise  the  wares  of  those  who  have  fashioned 
their  charms.  All  the  resources  of  one's  wardrobe 
are  taxed  to  meet  the  dress  parade  of  the  great 
Europeon  resort  hotel.  This  is  not  absolutely  neces- 
sary, but  the  custom  is  growing  every  year  more  com- 
plicated, and  larger  supplies  of  luggage  are  needed 
than  ever  before  if  one  would  make  the  tour  of  the 
Grand  Hotel  in  commensurate  style. 

The  English  demand  comfort,  but  the  American 
goes  farther  and  demands  luxury,  and  to  the  Amer- 
ican woman  may  be  given  much  of  the  credit  for  the 
luxe  that  the  modern  European  hotel  proprietor  is 
showering  upon  his  guests. 

The  foreign  hotel  is  designed  first  of  all  for  attrac- 
tiveness and  for  comfort,  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  it 
is  lacking  in  many  of  the  mechanical  conveniences  of 
America,  though  these  are  replaced  by  a  highly 
trained  and  efficient  staff  of  servants  which  is  always 
on  hand  to  render  personal  service  with  an  outwardly 
polite  respect.  This  is  a  very  soothing  state  of 
affairs  after  an  experience  in  a  Broadway  restaurant 
with  a  bootblack  from  the  basement  who  has  been 
elevated  to  the  position  of  a  waiter  on  the  first 
floor. 

The  entrance  hall  is  always  a  lounging  place,  called 
appropriately   in    England,    "  the   Lounge."     Then 


332      THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

there  Is  the  highly  ornamental  salon,  perhaps  two,  and 
a  reading-room — the  salon  de  lecture  of  the  Con- 
tinent— where  the  world's  leading  newspapers  and 
pictorial  magazines  are  to  be  found.  The  more  am- 
bitious hotels  of  this  class  will  have  an  attractive 
courtyard,  often  masquerading  as  a  palm  garden,  a 
pleasing  and  useful  adjunct  to  any  town  or  country 
hotel. 

The  foreign  hotel  invariably  insists  upon  a  certain 
air  of  exclusiveness.  In  this  lies  its  charm.  The 
public  is  not  allowed  the  free  use  of  the  European 
hotel,  wearing  out  its  furniture  and  using  up  its 
stationery,  as  in  liberal  America.  One  cannot  get  by 
the  watchful  porter  at  the  door  without  a  definite 
object  which  potentially  tends  to  benefit  the  hotel. 
Things  are  figured  on  too  close  a  margin  on  the  other 
side  to  permit  of  the  free  and  public  use  of  hotel 
privileges. 

It  is  In  this  class  of  hotel  that  the  individual  pro- 
prietor has  given  way  to  a  syndicate  with  a  Directeur 
as  a  go-between.  What  is  gained  in  comfort  has 
been  lost  in  those  elements  of  a  personal  character 
which  old  travellers  loved.  The  average  hotel  of 
to-day  is  on  too  big  a  scale  to  be  influenced  by  per- 
sonality; the  stockholders  in  the  syndicate  want  only 
dividends,  and  all  that  the  average  guest  wants  is  to 
be  able  to  travel  with  the  smallest  amount  of  ex- 
pended energy  and  friction,  caring  nothing  at  all  as 
to  whether  it  is  a  German,  an  Italian  or  a  Swiss 
who  may  be  caterer.  The  disadvantage  of  such  a 
hotel  regime  is  that  one's  impressions  of  a  country 


Hotel  Garden — Montreux 


WOMAN  AND  THE  EUROPEAN  HOTEL     333 

often  come  through  foreign  out-of-focus  lenses, 
rather  than  from  a  national  viewpoint. 

The  German,  or  the  German-Swiss,  is  perhaps  the 
best  all  round  hotelier  of  to-day.  It  is  he  who  has 
put  the  modern  European  hotel  on  the  business  foot- 
ing that  it  has  acquired  in  the  last  decade.  Take 
those  famous  modern  houses  of  Berlin  as  concrete 
examples  and  deny  this  if  you  can.  This  sphere  of 
influence  stretches  from  the  farthest  Bohemian  spa  to 
the  Pyramids.  The  best  managed,  cleanest,  most 
nearly  perfect  type  of  machine-made  hotel  of  Europe 
to-day  is  under  German  influence,  even  though  its 
name  be  writ  in  Italian,  French  or  English,  or  in  a 
combination  of  all  three.  Wherever  modern  methods 
of  hotel  sanitation  and  comfort  are  to  be  found  the 
trail  of  the  German  will  be  found  close  by. 

Many  hotels  in  Italy  are  run  under  German  aegis, 
perhaps  even  backed  by  German  capital,  and  while 
the  Swiss  "  Hotel  Director  "  is  a  type  peculiar  to 
himself,  he,  too,  is  chiefly  German  in  his  methods  and 
in  his  attitude  towards  the  traveller,  and  though  he 
does  things  more  parsimoniously  than  the  German, 
who  knows  that  liberality  is  the  best  divertisement 
a  hotel  can  have,  he  scrupulously  keeps  to  his  sched- 
ule and  handles  expeditiously  the  Baedecker  brigade 
that  uses  the  Alps  as  a  bridge  across  Europe. 

The  Germans  have  gone  the  English  one  better; 
besides  putting  out  one^s  shoes  in  front  of  the  bedroom 
door  at  night,  there  is  also  a  hanger  for  one*s  clothes, 
so  that  they  may  be  ready  at  hand  for  brushing  by  the 
valet  who  creeps  about  in  the  still  hours.     The  cor- 


334      THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

ridors  of  some  modern  German  hotels  look  like  cloak- 
rooms or  storage  vaults.  Less  trusting  hotels  have 
lockers  beside  the  door  for  the  same  purpose.  The 
idea  is  not  a  bad  one,  though  garments  have  been 
known  to  get  mixed  up  at  the  hands  of  a  sleepy 
valet  de  chambre,  resulting  in  the  breaking  up  of  a 
harmonious  party  and  much  scandalised  whispering 
over  afternoon  teacups. 

The  Germans,  too,  are  responsible  for  the  univer- 
sal introduction  of  music  as  a  feature  of  hotel  and 
restaurant  life.  Nothing  cements  a  crowd  of  people 
so  much  as  music,  nor  contributes  so  much  of  that 
atmosphere  of  gaiety  so  carefully  cultivated  by  the 
great  hotel.  Tyrolean  singers  carol  in  the  electrically 
lighted  hotel  gardens  of  French  resorts  like  Vichy 
and  Aix-les-Bains ;  theatrically  attired  Neapolitan 
boatmen  warble  ''  Santa  Lucia  "  to  amuse  the  guests 
of  an  immense  hotel  on  a  snow-crowned  Alpine  sum- 
mit, and  singers  of  all  nations  chant  in  all  keys  to 
the  well-fed,  after-dinner  crowd  over  coffee  cups  at 
Trouville  in  summer,  and  at  Monte  Carlo  in  winter. 

The  European  resort  hotel  has  every  device  for 
nailing  the  crowd  to  the  spot  and  making  it  too 
contented  to  move  on.  It  must  be  confessed  that 
the  ingenuity  of  the  hotelier  is  taxed  to  the  utmost 
to  hold  the  restless  American  already  blase,  if  only 
by  his  financial  ability  to  get  what  is  wanted,  at  the 
time  it  is  wanted  and  in  the  desired  proportions. 

One  does  not  have  to  go  outside  of  a  hotel  of  this 
class  for  anything.  There  may  be  a  vaudeville  per- 
formance in  the  saion^  a  palmist  may  have  the  con- 


WOMAN  AND  THE  EUROPEAN  HOTEL     335 

cession  to  read  for  you,  at  a  high  price,  a  cheerful 
future  in  a  cosy  corner  of  the  ''  Lounge,''  and  there 
are  convenient  booths  scattered  about  the  corridors, 
where  souvenirs  of  any  country  are  put  in  easy  reach 
of  this  great  floating  hotel  population,  of  course  at 
enhanced  prices. 

The  great  foreign  hotel  is  perhaps  making  for  the 
world's  peace  quite  as  much  as  the  Congress  of  the 
Hague.  By  its  means  nations  are  brought  into  social 
contact  and,  more  or  less,  are  becoming  tolerant  of 
each  other's  peculiarities,  at  least  more  conversant 
with  them.  The  "  Grand  "  and  "  Palace  "  hotels, 
carrying  out  their  policy  of  being  all  things  to  all 
men — more  especially  to  all  women — are  aiding  the 
cause  far  more  than  one  might  at  first  admit. 

The  holiday  season  is  used  to  advantage  by  the 
progressive  Continental  hotel  with  a  foreign  clientele. 
A  German  Christmas  tree  is  set  up  in  the  drawing- 
room,  and  frequently  costly  gifts  are  distributed  to 
a  crowd  of  grown-ups  as  pleased  as  children.  Eng- 
lish plum  pudding  has  become  an  international  Christ- 
mas dish  and  is  impartially  put  on  the  menus  for 
English  and  Americans  alike.  The  American  cock- 
tail, in  its  mild  European  form,  is  eagerly  sought 
after  at  the  so-called  American  bars  which  are  usually 
found  in  most  big  hotels.  Altogether  one  is  quite 
sure  of  not  being  allowed  to  forget  his  nationality. 

The  English  afternoon  tea  custom  has  become 
standardised,  and  everybody  looks  forward  to  the 
dainty  service  of  tea,  along  correct  lines,  in  the 
"  Lounge,"  or  the  "  Hall,"  where  the  ladies  may 


336      THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

smoke  If  they  choose,  for  woman's  cigarette  has  got 
beyond  the  stage  of  Intimate  boudoir  use  In  Europe. 
Under  such  surroundings  guests  fall  into  cliques 
readily  enough,  and  what  with  going  off  on  excursions 
together,  sooner  or  later  make  plans  to  move  en 
masse  to  the  latest  palatial  establishment  lying  on 
their  paths  which  may  have  been  recommended  to 
them  by  others  gone  before. 

The  social  game  has  largely  superseded  the  trav- 
eller's one-time  single  devotion  to  relics  of  the  past. 
What  Is  demanded  now  by  the  clients  of  the 
".Grand'*  hotel  Is  all  that  Is  modern  and  modish. 
The  growing  American  clientele  is  making  its  In- 
fluence felt.  It  has  Insisted  on  elevators  and  bath- 
rooms, with  modern  fitments,  and  while  the  English 
were  the  pioneers  in  Improving  sanitary  conditions 
on  the  Continent,  they  were  content  to  carry  around 
their  bathtubs  with  them.  This  Is  not  possible  with 
a  party  of  six  or  a  dozen  Americans  who  arrive  at  a 
big  hotel  by  automobile,  hence  the  demand  of  each 
for  a  private  bath  overtaxes  the  capacity  of  most 
hotels,  or  did,  up  to  within  a  very  few  years.  The 
hotelier  finally  woke  up,  and  now  great  hotels,  every 
room  with  its  bath,  are  going  up  on  all  the  well  worn 
trails  trod  by  Americans  "  doing  Europe." 

The  hotel  elevator  In  Europe  Is  appropriately 
called  a  "  lift,"  for  very  often  Its  only  function  is 
to  take  you  up,  leaving  you  to  find  your  way  down 
the  stairs.  Any  other  procedure  would  seem  a  waste 
of  mechanical  energy,  which  costs  money  to  produce, 
in   the   eyes   of   the   frugal   foreigner.     The   usual 


WOMAN  AND  THE  EUROPEAN  HOTEL     337 

"  lift "  is  about  as  large  as  a  bird  cage,  and  moves 
with  a  slowness  that  gives  the  passengers  an  oppor- 
tunity to  get  acquainted  before  the  third  floor  is 
reached.  One  variety  of  the  "  lift  "  is  manoeuvred 
from  below,  and,  to  the  embarrassment  of  the  lone 


woman  traveller  she  may  often  find  herself  sent  off 
at  a  snaiPs  pace  as  the  only  occupant  of  a  "  lift," 
bound  on  a  journey  to  the  top.  Again  she  may  be 
shut  up  in  a  box-like  cage  with  an  unknown  man 
and  scarce  enough  extra  space  about  them  to  allow 
of  unrestricted  breathing. 

Hotel  keepers  of  all  nationalities,  by  the  frequent 


338      THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

custom  of  giving  a  French  name. to  their  hotel,  pay  a 
compliment  to  the  charm  that  all  that  Is  French  ex- 
ercises on  the  Imagination,  and,  by  the  almost  uni- 
versal adoption  of  a  French  cuisine  and  menu,  tacitly 
acknowledge  the  superiority  of  that  nation  in  the  art 
of  good  cooking.  The  word  "  hotel ''  has  been  In- 
corporated into  every  language;  in  Italy  it  is  as  well 
known  as  the  native  albergo;  in  Spain  as  the  fonda 
or  in  Germany  as  the  gasthaus. 

Curiously  enough  the  Frenchman  himself  has  been 
the  slowest  of  all  in  catering  for  the  outside  tourist. 
It  is  in  France,  too,  that  the  hotel  proprietor  himself 
is  most  In  evidence  about  the  establishment;  he  has 
not  been  so  eager  to  turn  himself  into  a  stock  com- 
pany, being  a  creature  of  traditions,  of  much  personal 
pride,  and  content  with  smaller  profits. 

Even  such  touristised  hotels  as  are  found  In  the 
great  French  resorts,  such  as  Trouville,  Evian-les- 
Bains,  Aix-les-Bains  and  Vichy,  the  hotels  are  purely 
French  in  all  their  functions.  With  the  exception  of 
a  few  parasitical  excresences  which  have  been  forced 
upon  him,  the  genuine  French  hotelier  never  meets 
Innovations  even  halfway.  He  is  independent  to  a 
marked  degree,  but  while  he  will  not  take  so  much 
trouble  as  will  the  German-Swiss  personage  of  his 
class  to  appease  the  whims  of  his  guests,  neither  is  he 
so  commercial,  not  to  say  rapacious.  He  sees  to  it  first 
of  all  that  his  cuisine  and  wines  are  of  the  traditional 
best,  and  gives  himself  little  concern  as  to  whether 
the  installation  of  his  salle-de-bains  Is  of  the  latest 
pattern  or  not. 


WOMAN  AND  THE  EUROPEAN  HOTEL    339 

**  Oh,  I  send  these  exigent  foreigners  to  the  big 
house  over  the  way — every  room  with  a  bath,"  said 
the  proprietor  of  a  hotel  on  the  French  Riviera,  hav- 
ing exclusively  a  high-class  French  clientele,  with  a 
shrug  of  the  shoulders.  "  Four  bathrooms  are 
enough  for  my  people."  He  used  to  think  that  these 
folk  from  across  the  seas  were  mad  until  they  de- 
veloped this  water  craze. 

The  English,  who  have  been,  until  recently,  preju- 
diced against  the  mixed  hotel  amusement  idea,  have 
now  taken  up  with  it  heartily.  This  is  proven  by  the 
number  of  luxuriously  appointed  hotels,  on  a  much 
more  magnificent  scale  than  ever  before,  which  are 
opening  up  all  over  the  British  Isles,  the  direct  result 
of  tourists  arriving  by  automobile,  whereas  before 
they  arrived  scarcely  at  all. 

Evidences  of  the  workings  of  a  big  English  hotel 
are  kept  out  of  sight  as  much  as  possible.  What 
there  is  of  an  office  is  unobtrusively  tucked  away  in  a 
corner  of  the  entrance  hall,  which  might  be  that  of  a 
private  house.  A  log  fire  burns  in  the  big  open  fire- 
place (an  almost  daily  necessity  the  year  round  in 
some  parts  of  Britain),  and  tea  tables  are  set  about 
here  and  there  that  at  five  o'clock  every  one  may 
forgather  for  tea  and  a  social  chat  before  dressing 
for  dinner.  At  some  of  these  establishments  private 
mounts  are  kept  In  the  stables,  and  women  guests  may 
go  for  a  morning's  canter  over  the  downs  or  along 
the  sea-front,  as  If  they  were  sheltered  in  some 
friend's  country  house,  wearing  that  curious  com- 
bination,   a    riding  habit   and   a    straw   sailor   hat. 


340     THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

Dinner  Is  always  a  function,  with  decollete  full-dress, 
after  which  coffee  Is  drunk  In  the  "  Lounge,"  while 
the  band  plays  discreetly,  hid  behind  Imitation  palms 
or  rubber  plants,  and  the  inevitable  card  parties  begin 
to  form  themselves. 

This  habit  of  seeking  pleasure  at  hotels,  due.  It  Is 
claimed,  to  the  Influx  of  American  Ideas,  has  done 
much  to  break  down  English  excluslveness.  Hotel 
acquaintances  are  now  as  much  sought  as  they  were 
once  shunned.  It  Is  avowedly  for  social  life  that 
large  numbers  of  English  people  put  In  their  holidays 
and  week-ends  at  the  hotel  that  purveys  the  most 
amusement  for  the  price  charged,  though  often  they 
use  the  disguise  of  curative  baths  or  waters  In  the 
neighbourhood  to  account  for  their  prolonged  absence 
from  town. 

There  are,  in  Scotland,  "  shooting,"  "  fishing," 
"  golfing  '*  and  *'  hydropathic  "  hotels,  which  are  dis- 
tinctly Scotch.  At  the  latter  one  may  Indulge  the 
bathing  habit  to  heart's  content,  hot  or  cold,  douche 
or  spray,  warranted  to  cure  any  ailment.  "  Hydros," 
once  so  popular,  are  fashionable  no  longer,  though 
their  prices  are  high  and  they  welcome  any  kind  of 
traveller,  whether  excessive  bathing  Is  to  be  a  part 
of  their  daily  life  or  not. 

Temperance  hotels  are  another  purely  British  In- 
stitution, and  are  what  their  name  implies,  places 
where  nothing  more  exciting  than  ginger-pop  and 
bottled  lemonade  is  served  to  drink.  They  are,  for 
this  reason,  supposed  to  be  peculiarly  suited  to  the 
demands  of  a  feminine  clientele. 


WOMAN  AND  THE  EUROPEAN  HOTEL     341 

That  there  Is  something  In  a  name  may  be  deduced 
from  the  general  custom  of  making  use  of  the  prefix 
*'  Grand  "  or  "Palace  "  before  the  name  of  many  a 
great  hotel;  sometimes  as  a  sort  of  super-emphasis, 
both  words  are  made  use  of,  and  there  are  supposedly 
intelligent  people  who  will  refuse  to  go  to  a  hotel 
that  is  not  so  labelled. 

The  word  "  Grand  "  has  been  so  overworked  that 
it  has  really  lost  its  significance.  The  simplest  hos- 
telry can  get  the  local  sign-painter  to  put  "  Grand  '* 
before  its  after  name,  but  even  extreme  local  egotism 
naturally  shrinks  from  the  responsibility  implied  by 
putting  the  word  "  Palace  '*  over  its  front  door,  where 
the  courtyard  shelters  more  country  carts  than  auto- 
mobiles. 

It  may  be  safely  counted  upon  that  the  "  Palace  " 
hotel,  of  whatever  combination  of  words  may  be  the 
rest  of  its  name,  tries  to  live  up  to  Its  pretensions. 
Often,  in  Italy,  it  is  a  genuine  palace  that  has  been 
converted  to  the  uses  of  a  guest  house,  to  the  financial 
profit  of  the  present  owner,  and  a  tickling  of  the 
sentiments  of  the  tourist.  There  Is  no  doubt  but  that 
the  sentiment  that  is  supposed  to  exist  in  sunny  Italy 
is  largely  supplied  by  the  imagination  of  the  visitor. 

To  show  the  length  to  which  a  hotel  will  go  in 
cadging  for  business,  one  Italian  hotel  advertises  that 
the  use  of  garlic  is  absolutely  banished  from  its 
kitchen.  The  refined  olfactory  nerves  of  the  cultured 
foreigner  are  not  likely  to  be  offended  beneath  that 
roof. 

The  modern  hotel  on  the  Continent  makes  use  of 


342      THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

royalty  wherever  possible  as  an  advertisement  and 
drawing-card.  The  credit  of  this  Is  due  to  the 
Italians.  In  a  conspicuous  place,  near  the  entrance 
of  many  an  Italian  hotel,  may  be  seen  a  card  which 
states  that  His  or  Her  Gracious  Majesty  has  hon- 
oured the  hotel  at  one  time  or  another  by  occupying 
one  of  Its  suites  of  rooms  or  breaking  fast  therein. 
The  enthusiastic  American  girl  at  once  demands  that 
the  royalties  be  trotted  out  for  Inspection,  and  Is 
chagrined  to  find  out  that  It  was  long  years  ago  that 
they  passed  that  way.  By  paying  a  hundred  per 
cent  above  the  usual  charges  one  may  have  the  privi- 
lege of  occupying  the  same  rooms,  and  usually  they 
do  not  want  for  takers.  The  acknowledgment  of 
such  a  distinction  by  an  Italian  hotel  Is  as  much  of 
an  influential  trademark  as  are  the  royal  arms  over 
the  shop  front  of  a  London  tradesman. 

Paris  Is  a  city  of  small  hotels.  The  hotels  of 
Paris  have  a  fascination  for  the  visitor  which  In  a 
way  is  inexplicable.  They  are  chic;  there  Is  no  doubt 
about  that — some  of  them,  with  a  certain  Parisian 
atmosphere — but  actually,  until  very  recent  years,  they 
have  been  most  backward  in  that  modernity  which 
an  indulgent  generation  demands. 

With  the  coming  of  the  Elysee  Palace  Hotel  and 
the  Reglna  a  few  years  since,  and  the  making  over 
of  the  Grand,  the  Continental  and  the  Meurlce,  a 
certain  revolution  In  Paris  hotels  took  place,  until 
now,  even  with  the  staid  old  Athenee,  and  the  still 
more  staid  and  exclusive  Bristol  (the  abode  of  roy- 
alty,  which  only  within   the  last   half-dozen  years 


WOMAN  AND  THE  EUROPEAN  HOTEL    343 

has  installed  the  modern  bathroom  with  "  hot  and 
cold  laid  on,"  as  its  habitual  and  favoured  clientele 
expresses  It) ,  these  only  are  to  be  reckoned  as  In  the 
very  front  rank. 

Prices  at  these  Paris  caravansaries  are  anything  one 
likes  to  pay;  the  more  so  this  if  one  demands  that 
which  she  has  been  used  to  in  New  York,  Boston, 
Philadelphia  or  Chicago.  This,  as  goes  without  say- 
ing, means  a  room  with  a  bath.  For  this  one  pays 
the  transatlantic  tariff  and  something  more.  There 
is  nothing  cheap  about  the  Paris  hotel. 

Recently  has  come  along  a  new  crop  of  hotels  like 
the  Astoria  and  the  Crillon,  new,  some  of  them,  as 
to  their  structure,  whilst  others  are  new  only  In  their 
appointments.  They  are  no  better  nor  no  worse  than 
others  of  their  kind  elsewhere,  and  prices  about  the 
same.  The  hotel  with  modern  comforts  in  Paris 
can  hardly  be  expected  to  supply  a  room  and  bath 
at  less  than  fifteen  to  twenty  francs  a  day,  and  it 
may  be  fifty  or  more.  You  can  beat  it  on  Broad- 
way. 

Something  in  the  Paris  hotel  line,  with  a  real  reason 
for  being,  has  sprung  up  recently  in  the  quarters 
just  off  the  rush  and  bustle  of  the  boulevards.  There 
Is  the  Louvois,  on  the  Square  Louvols  opposite  the 
BIbllotheque  Nationale,  In  a  little  backwater  of  tran- 
quility, but  scarce  a  stone's  throw  from  the  Avenue 
de  rOpera.  The  latest  is  the  Hotel  Lutetia,  on  the 
Rive  Gauche,  near  the  Bon  Marche,  to  which  the 
same  applies.  Modern,  unpretentious,  exceedingly 
convenient  and  in  every  way  first  class,  if  not  fash- 


344      THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

ionable,  Paris  hotels  of  this  nature  are  bound  to  be 
more  numerous.  Their  prices,  of  course,  are  some- 
what less  than  would  be  charged  for  an  apartment 
as  comfortable  and  convenient  in  one  of  the  great 
palatial  hotels  with  mondain  reputations. 

Another  class  of  hotels  which  in  Paris,  and  indeed 
in  London  and  in  some  other  European  cities,  serve 


the  lone  travelling  woman  in  a  manner  which  she 
will  greatly  appreciate,  are  the  Terminus  Hotels,  as 
those  affiliated  with  the  great  railway  companies  are 
known.  The  best  examples  in  Paris  are  the  Termi- 
nus Hotel  at  the  Gare  Saint  Lazare,  and  that  of 
the  Gare  d'Orleans — the  Terminus  Quai  d'Orsay. 
At  Marseilles,  too,  and  at  Lyons,  the  P.  L.  M.  rail- 
way furnishes  accommodation  of  a   similar  nature 


WOMAN  AND  THE  EUROPEAN  HOTEL     345 

for  the  traveller,  and  in  many  respects  it  serves  better 
than  any  other. 

Leaving  Europe  and  crossing  to  Africa,  one  still 
finds  French  influence  paramount.  In  the  French 
department  of  Algeria,  and  the  virtually  French  pro- 
tected Tunisia,  that  French  trilogy — good  hotels, 
good  cafes  and  good  roads — go  together.  Down 
even  into  the  Saharan  desert  one  finds  hotels  as  truly 
French  as  if  they  were  in  the  midst  of  one  of  the 
old  French  provinces  instead  of  on  the  edge  of  an 
African  oasis. 

The  Hotel  des  Ziban  at  Biskra  is  such  an  example. 
There  is  a  big  syndicate-owned  hotel  at  Biskra,  along 
with  a  few  others — the  Royal  Palace,  something  or 
other — but  nothing  that  compares  in  local  colour  with 
the  Ziban.  Here  one  comes  into  contact  with  curious 
contrasts  of  West  and  East.  One  sips  French  drinks 
under  an  Eastern  colonnade  or  in  the  palm-tree- 
shaded  courtyard,  in  as  cosmopolitan  a  company  as 
one  may  find  out  of  Cairo  or  Constantinople. 

Three  generations  of  an  old  French  family  preside 
over  the  destinies  of  the  Ziban.  Gathered  there 
among  the  company  on  one  occasion  was  an  Arab 
Caid  and  his  family,  making  their  way  south  for  the 
winter  to  their  tribal  town  hundreds  of  kilometres 
farther  on  in  the  burning  sands.  They  took  up 
their  journey  again  one  morning  at  three  o'clock, 
and  with  a  retinue  of  forty  men  and  as  many  camels 
stole  off  as  stealthily  and  romantically  as  if  they 
had  not  come  down  from  the  coast,  where  they 
had   spent    the    summer,    by  the    same    puffy    little 


346      THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

train  which  brought  ourselves  from  the  sea  to  the 
Sahara. 

There  was  also  a  Belgian  automobile  party  which 
was  motoring  "  Farthest  South  **  at  a  considerable 
cost  in  rubber  tires;  there  was  a  French  army  officer 
and  his  bride  on  their  honeymoon;  a  Russian  artist 
painting  the  coloured  squalor  of  old  Biskra ;  a  party 
of  French  blue-jackets  on  their  curious  mission  of 
digging  wells  for  a  desert  army  post;  one  of  the 
"  White  Fathers  "  of  that  order  of  Monks  which  has 
carried  the  Cross  into  the  Sahara — this  particularly 
worldly  one  was  not  averse  to  relaxing  with  the  rest 
when  the  heat  drove  every  one  to  iced  drinks,  ice 
being  more  readily  obtainable  in  the  Sahara  than  in 
many  an  Alpine  mountain  town  of  Dauphiny  or 
Savoy.  Among  the  flower  beds  of  the  courtyard 
gamboled  two  brown-eyed  gazelles,  and  no  end  of 
Arab  servants  slipped  about  like  ghosts  in  white  robes 
and  heelless  slippers,  while  an  army  of  native  guides 
squatted  at  the  street  entrance,  biding  the  sight-seeing 
caprices  of  the  guests,  most  of  whom  were  fully 
charged  with  the  sentiment  of  "  Beni-Moro "  on 
arriving. 

One  ate  genuine  French  food,  tinged  with  a  spicing 
of  Arab  pepper  and  herbs,  in  a  dining-room  so  dark- 
ened, to  keep  out  the  hundred  degrees  of  heat, 
that  you  had  to  feel  your  way.  Mosquitoes  buzzed 
cheerily  all  night,  and  the  guests  went  shopping,  be- 
fore retiring,  in  Biskra's  Bazaar,  searching  for  some- 
thing that  would  temporarily  act  as  mosquito  netting. 

*^  Mon  Dieu,  c'est  impossible,^*  said  the  French 


WOMAN  AND  THE  EUROPEAN  HOTEL    347 

grandmother,  knitting  away  on  a  stocking,  as  she  had 
been  doing  since  her  girlhood  in  the  mountains  of 
Auvergne,  and  slapping  an  occasional  buzzer.  **  But 
then  the  mosquitoes  never  go  above  the  ground  floor; 
you  will  be  all  right  once  in  bed." 

In  Africa,  as  in  New  Jersey,  there  is  this  same 
mental  obliqueness  as  to  mosquitoes. 

There  are  fireplaces  in  all  Biskra  hotels;  even  the 
grandmother  admitted  that  they  might  be  needed  in 
winter.  And  she  said  further,  "  You  Americans  and 
the  English  will  have  them  when  you  come  down  in 
February  and  March." 

For  eight  francs  or  so  a  day  one  can  live  at  the 
Hotel  des  Ziban,  while  twenty-five  would  be  the  bot- 
tom limit  at  a  Royal  or  a  "  Palace,"  where  the  guest 
follows  the  same  routine  of  teas  and  card  parties 
(interspersed  with  such  exotic  amusements  as  can 
be  had  from  visiting  the  dance  halls  of  the  Ouled 
Nails)  as  at  Davos  in  Switzerland  or  Pau  in  the 
Pyrenees. 

One  gets  another  view  of  exotic  life  from  the 
orchestra  seats  on  the  terrace  of  Shepheard's  Hotel 
overlooking  the  only  original  streets  of  Cairo. 
Shepheard*s  holds  its  own  among  world-famous  hos- 
telries,  in  spite  of  the  more  gorgeous  and  more  mod- 
ern big  European-like  hotels  that  have  sprung  into 
social  prominence  in  the  neighbourhood  since  Cairo 
became  an  international  rendezvous  for  travellers  be- 
tween the  West  and  East  a  half  century  or  more  ago. 
As  a  diversified  amusement  nothing  quite  takes  the 
place  of  the  "  Terrace  "  at  Shepheard's  in  the  height 


348      THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

of  season,  say  about  February,  when  the  chairs  be- 
fore the  little  wicker  tea  tables  under  the  gay  Oriental 
hangings  are  all  taken,  and  a  crowd,  clothed  in  all 
colours,  and  of  all  degrees  of  celebrity  and  brilliance, 
is  gathered  to  hear  the  band  play,  gossip  and  watch 


the  multi-coloured  population  of  this  most  cosmo- 
politan of  Oriental  cities  drift  ceaselessly  past. 

One  can  play  tennis  and  golf  now  almost  the 
length  of  the  lower  Nile,  and  one  can  live  at  the 
Mena  House  Hotel,  in  the  very  shadow  of  the  Sphinx 
for  six  dollars  or  so  a  day  all  found.  It  is  easy  to 
have  sympathy  for  the  Nationalists,  the  young  Egyp- 
tian party,  of  this  unhappy  land,  whose  slogan  is 
*'  Egypt  for  the  Egyptians." 


WOMAN  AND  THE  EUROPEAN  HOTEL     349 

For  those  who  want  to  go  to  the  fountainhead  of 
antiquity  with  a  maximum  amount  of  luxury  there  is 
nothing  better  than  the  hotels  of  Egypt.  They  will 
send  one  out  sight-seeing  in  an  automobile  with  a 
gorgeous  silk-clad  dragoman  beside  the  chauffeur,  and 
though  one  can't  get  far  out  into  the  desert  sand,  the 
ten  miles  to  the  Pyramids  and  another  ten  back  is 
an  enjoyable  and  novel  excursion. 

One  class  of  European  hotel  advertises  itself  as 
an  "  international  tourist  resort  of  the  first  rank," 
while  another  puts  out  printed  matter  to  the  effect 
that :  "  it  proposes  to  keep  its  entertainment  in  all 
departments  on  a  level  with  the  enjoyment  to  be  de- 
rived from  the  majestic  scenery  around  about."  Each 
of  these  methods  gives  a  clear-cut  idea  of  modern 
European  hotel  management.  The  big  syndicated 
hotels  of  Europe  are  practically  trusts,  and  again  is 
the  American  hotel  behind;  witness  the  first  of  these 
combinations  which  has  recently  broken  in  on  this  side 
of  the  water,  run  by  one  of  the  most  successful  of  the 
European  international  companies. 

Perhaps  in  time  all  the  "  Palace  "  and  "  Grand  " 
hotels  of  Europe  will  form  themselves  into  a  trust, 
formulate  one  policy  and  pool  their  earnings.  This 
would  simplify  matters,  and  the  average  clients  would 
be  more  easily  pleased,  for  in  that  case  there  would 
be  a  greater  assurance  that  the  desired  continuity  of 
that  which  they  found  so  to  their  liking  would  be 
unbroken.  The  death  knell  of  the  small  hotel,  so 
far  as  the  world-famous  cosmopolitan  European  re- 
sorts are  concerned,  has  been  rung. 


350      THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

For  those,  however,  who  like  the  other  phase  of 
hotel  life,  in  many  a  backwater  off  the  restless  stream 
of  wandering  fashion,  there  still  can  be  found  the 
hotel  whose  proprietor  wears  the  white  cap  of  the 
chef,  and  where,  too,  the  little  cafe  with  its  sawdust- 
strewn  floor  isn't  a  bad  change  sometimes  from  the 
"  Lounge  "  of  the  "  Grand  ''  hotel. 


INCIDENTAL  MEALS 
TEA-SHOPS  OF  ENGLAND 
TITLES  AND  TEA-SHOPS 
A  PLAIN  TEA 
TEA  AT  THE  RIVERSIDE  INN 


HIGH  TEA 

AFTERNOON  TEA  IN  THE  COUNTRY  HOUSE 

SUBSTANTIAL  TEAS  OF  SCOTLAND 

PARIS  ADOPTS  THE  "    FIVE  O'CLOCK  ** 

CREAMERIES 

ITALIAN  PASTRY  SHOPS 

PASTICCARIAS  AND  DROGHERIAS 

CHOCOLATE  AN  AID  TO  TOURING 

LIGHT  REFRESHMENT  IN  SWITZERLAND 

HONEY  WITHOUT  BEES 

MILK  CHOCOLATE 

BEER  GARDENS  IN  GERMANY 

FAMILY  PARTIES 

MAKING  one's  OWN  COFFEE 

GERMAN  BANDS 

CAFE-RESTAURANTS 

BRASSERIES  AND  TAVERNES 

RAILWAY  REFRESHMENT  ROOMS 

LUNCH  ON  A  RHINE  STEAMER 

PINI^G-CARS  OF  EUROPJ& 


XIV 

LIGHT  REFRESHMENTS 

Incidental  meals  are  particularly  attractive  to  fem- 
inine taste,  and  seem  especially  adapted  to  the  needs 
of  the  woman  traveller.  A  woman  seems  to  dodge 
regular  meals.  While  man  will  neglect  the  finest 
sight  in  Europe  to  connect  with  the  lunch  hour, 
woman,  on  the  other  hand,  will  faithfully  finish  a 
round  of  sight-seeing,  and  depend  on  foraging  for 
some  fluffy,  unsubstantial  food  to  restore  her  strength. 

It  must  be  admitted  that  there  Is  a  certain  amount 
of  fascination,  and  even  convenience,  in  doing  this 
thing;  on  a  small  scale,  it  is  the  same  inspiration  as 
that  which  keeps  the  explorer  ever  forging  onward, 
and  that  Is  exactly  what  the  traveller  Is,  or  ought 
to  be,  to  get  the  maximum  of  enjoyment  out  of  travel. 

In  England  the  tea-shop  offers  the  solution  of  the 
light  refreshment  problem.  Afternoon  tea  is  still 
an  exotic  In  American  life  which  is  absolutely  scorned 
by  man,  though  the  American  woman  adopts  the 
habit  readily  enough  when  she  crosses  the  water.  In 
England  a  tea-shop  is  a  tea-shop  and  not  a  junk- 
shop  for  the  sale  of  bric-a-brac  on  the  side. 

In  London  there  are  many  varieties  of  tea-shop, 
and  some  of  these  are  legitimate  lunch  places  of  a 
kind,  though  their  menu  Is  usually  restricted  and  they 

353 


354      THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

are  apt  to  be  overcrowded  at  the  conventional  tea 
hour.  The  "  Aerated  Bread  Company's  "  shops — 
commonly  known  as  the  *'  A.B.C." — and  the  "  Brit- 
ish Tea  Table ''  rooms  are  virtually  developments 
of  the  ''  bun-shop  *'  of  the  Victorian  era.  Here  one 
can  get  such  startling  combinations  as  cold  meat  pies, 
marmalade,  water  cress,  soft-boiled  eggs  and  a  cup 
of  tea  or  coffee.  This  is  an  example  of  what  suits 
a  certain  class  of  English  taste,  but  one  can  do  much 
better,  even  in  these  places,  by  taking  a  little  pains 
in  the  composition  of  their  menu. 

As  the  price  goes  up  the  tea-shop  grows  more 
attractive.  The  **  Kardomah  "  is  a  favourite  estab- 
lishment, got  up  in  a  most  attractive  style,  primarily 
to  advertise  a  particular  brand  of  tea  and  coffee. 
The  company  has  also  a  branch  in  Paris,  where  the 
tea-drinking  habit  has  caught  on  among  Anglomanlac 
French  men  and  women  to  a  remarkable  extent.  In 
London  all  restaurants  have  their  tea  hour  and  all 
hotels  their  tea  rooms,  and  these  are  as  much  patron- 
ised from  the  outside  as  by  guests  of  the  house. 

In  the  tea-shops  of  London's  Bond  Street,  the  de 
luxe  shopping  centre,  one  can  have  their  tea  served 
by  impecunious  ladies  of  title  who  have  adopted  this 
means  of  a  livelihood.  The  English  know  the  value 
of  a  noble  prefix  as  a  means  of  drawing  trade. 
Milliners,  coal  dealers  and  lunch-room  proprietors 
have  all  tried  it,  and  successfully. 

Prices  vary,  but  the  high-water  mark  for  a  "  tea  " 
does  not  usually  rise  above  a  shilling  and  sixpence, 
about  thirty-six  cents.     This  means  a  pot  of  tea, 


LIGHT  REFRESHMENTS  355 

copious  hot  water  and  a  liberal  supply  of  the  delicious 
thin  *'  cut-bread-and-butter,"  whose  delicate,  eco- 
nomical transparency  has  brought  the  slicing  of  it  to 
a  science.  A  habitue  of  the  tea  table  eats  the  dainty 
slices  folded  once  over.  This  is  a  plain  tea;  if  one 
wishes  to  add  cakes,  or  water  cress  and  cucumber 
sandwiches,  and  jam,  the  price  goes  up  by  sixpenny 
and  shilling  leaps,  according  to  the  environment  in 
which  one  orders  the  refreshment. 

Tea,  with  an  accompaniment  of  plum  cake,  Is  a 
dinner  spoiler,  especially  to  the  American,  who  usu- 
ally wants  to  sit  down  to  dinner  before  seven  o'clock, 
but  it  must  be  confessed  that  the  stimulating  effects 
of  afternoon  tea  as  an  aid  to  pleasurable  travel  are 
invaluable,  and  besides  this,  it  supplies  an  element  of 
sociability,  particularly  if  partaken  of  in  one  of  the 
fashionable  and  popular  gathering  places. 

In  the  English  countryside  the  "  tea  "  fulfils  its 
highest  functions,  and  becomes  the  most  enjoyable 
meal  of  the  day.  What  could  be  more  appealing 
than  tea  in  a  riverside  garden  of  a  little  inn  on  the 
banks  of  the  Thames,  or  on  one  of  the  many  soft- 
flowing  English  rivers,  where  rosy-cheeked  maidens 
bring  out  the  tray  and  lay  the  cloth,  where  one  may 
sit  and  watch  the  slow-moving  punts,  row  boats  and 
launches  skimming  over  the  river? 

There  is  always  the  same  thin  "  cut-bread-and- 
butter,"  and  it  is  achieved  by  no  patent  knife  either. 
One  wonders,  indeed,  how  it  is  done;  it  must  be  as 
the  result  of  centuries  of  training,  like  the  production 
of  those  wonderful  lawns  of  the  English  and  the 


356      THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

smooth,  sand-papered  effect  of  the  country  In  general. 

England  is  dotted  all  over  with  the  cabalistic 
word — "  Teas."  "  Teas  "  are  quite  a  source  of  in- 
come to  many  a  small  cottager,  who  often  hangs  out 
a  modest  shingle  beside  the  garden  gate  which  reads : 
*'  Teas,  Sixpence."  One  rarely  goes  amiss  in  trying 
out  a  "  cottage-tea."  You  enter  and  pass  up  the  little 
garden  walk,  between  old-fashioned  English  flowers, 
and  bang  the  knocker  on  the  door.  There  is  noth- 
ing about  the  little  thatch-roofed  cottage  that  sug- 
gests commerce.  You  are  asked  into  a  tiny  parlour, 
a  bit  stuffy  because  its  owner  believes  keeping  out  dust 
at  the  expense  of  fresh  air. 

"  Will  the  lady  have  jam  with  her  tea?  '*  is  asked. 
Sometimes  the  offer  of  a  soft-boiled  egg  is  made. 
The  frugal  minded  in  England  push  the  afternoon 
tea  along  and  turn  it  into  a  small  supper,  thus  avoid- 
ing the  formality  and  expense  of  a  late  dinner.  Such 
a  plan  works  admirably  in  the  country,  where  the 
local  inn  usually  serves  a  midday  meal.  The  tea, 
in  this  case,  is  supplemented  by  the  soft-boiled  egg, 
cold  meat  and  jam,  and  thus  becomes  a  "  high  tea," 
thought  not  so  high  in  price  as  the  average  hotel 
meal,  not  more  than  eighteen  pence  or  two  shillings 
at  the  most.  Of  course  the  "  cottage-tea  "  does  not 
always  rise  to  this  height,  but  such  is  always  within 
the  scope  of  the  capabilities  of  the  average  country 
inn. 

Tea  in  the  English  home  is  a  function  to  be  appre- 
ciated. English  tea  at  its  best  is  only  to  be  had  in 
the  home  service.     In  the  great  hall  before  the  huge 


LIGHT  REFRESHMENTS 


357 


open  fireplace  on  a  chill  November  day  in  some 
country  house,  the  ceremony  attendant  upon  the  serv- 
ing of  tea  is  something  to  be  remembered,  as  it  is  on 
a  June  evening  under  the  great  cedars  on  the  lawn. 
It  is  under  such  circumstances  that  one  sees  in  its 
glory  the  English  muffin,  the  porous,  tasty  crumpet, 


the  hot  scones  and  the  tea  cake.  There  are  a  num- 
ber of  variations  of  these  delicious,  indigestible  dain- 
ties, while  tea  would  not  be  tea  without  its  accom- 
panying plum  cake.  Tea  in  Scotland  has  its  own 
accompanying  specialties,  such  as  hot,  buttered  scones 
and  shortbread,  beside  which  common  pastry  is  like 
a  health  food  cracker.  The  Scot  needs  his  sturdy 
digestion ! 

Nowhere  does  tea  seem  so  good  as  in  England. 
It  would  be  difficult  for  us  to  squeeze  a  fourth  meal 
a  day  into  the  domestic  economy  of  American  life, 


358      THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

but  in  the  chilly  little  island  one  seems  to  require  this 
in  order  to  finish  off  the  afternoon.  The  English 
tea  room  is  fast  becoming  as  much  of  an  institution 
on  the  Continent  as  the  cafe  wherever  the  English 
congregate  in  large  numbers.  They  have  demanded 
it,  and  so  all  over  Europe,  in  the  large  cities,  it  can 
often  be  found,  and  if  of  any  pretensions,  it  serves 
also  toast,  scones  and  plum  cake  of  a  standard  quite 
up  to  that  found  in  Britain. 

In  Paris  there  is  a  nest  of  tea-shops  gathered  in 
the  neighbourhood  of  the  Rue  de  Rivoli  which  are 
the  rendezvous  of  English  and  Americans  alike,  and 
where  people  stand  in  line  waiting  to  get  tables  at 
some  of  the  more  popular.  When  they  get  them 
they  pay  Paris  prices,  too,  usually  far  ahead  of  those 
of  London.  The  Frenchwoman  is  also  to  be  seen 
here  in  numbers ;  she  has  taken  to  the  "  five  o'clock  " 
habit,  as  it  is  called  in  France,  with  great  gusto. 
These  Pari§  tea  rooms  might  be  called  "  conversa- 
tional tea  rooms,'*  so  much  do  they  lend  themselves 
to  social  intercourse  between  the  tourist  flotsam  and 
jetsam  that  sooner  or  later  drifts  together  from  all 
over  Europe. 

But  no  matter  how  delightful  the  cup  of  tea  is  in 
damp,  foggy  England,  the  false  note  for  the  traveller 
is  sounded  when  the  characteristic  eating  places  of 
the  country  are  neglected.  It  is  the  little  things  that 
stamp  the  individuality  of  a  country  on  the  mind 
of  the  traveller  quite  as  much  as  its  monuments. 
Food  and  drink,  and  the  manner  of  their  serving, 
will  give  one  a  far  clearer  insight  into  the  life  of  a 


LIGHT  REFRESHMENTS  359 

people  than  the  mere  contemplation  of  churches  and 
palaces. 

All  over  Paris  there  abound  little  cremeries,  where 
much  the  same  sort  of  thing  is  purveyed  as  in  a 
tea-shop,  though  in  a  much  simpler  manner  and  at 
lower  prices.  Things  here  are  very  French,  which 
is  what  one  wants  in  France,  not  imitations  of  the 
institutions  of  another  country.  The  cremerie  serves 
principally  coffee,  chocolate,  tea  and  milk,  all  of 
which  will  be  very  good  as  to  quality.  In  a  small 
way  some  pastry  and  biscuits  are  served,  sometimes 
eggs,  and  usually,  as  a  concession  to  its  English  and 
American  clientele,  jam  or  conjure. 

One  of  the  best  attractions  that  Italy  has  to  offer 
the  hurried  traveller  for  refreshment  are  the  wares 
of  her  pasticcaria.  These  pastry  shops  are  every- 
where to  be  met,  and  their  cakes  are  invariably  good. 
The  shops  are  so  numerous  as  to  suggest  that  the 
Italian  lives  largely  on  chocolate  and  cake.  Regard- 
less of  the  time  of  day,  the  pasticcaria  always  seems 
to  be  doing  a  rushing  business,  and  more  men  than 
women  make  up  its  list  of  patrons. 

Go  to  one  of  the  big  establishments  in  Genoa, 
Florence  or  Rome  of  an  afternoon  and  it  will  be 
found  overflowing  with  a  mixture  of  the  tourists  of 
all  nations,  and  members  of  Italian  society  as  well. 
One  may  see  an  Italian  officer  looking  like  an  operatic 
stage  tenor  in  his  long,  graceful,  pale-grey  cloak, 
with  his  family,  the  women  well-dressed,  but  lacking 
the  chic  of  the  Frenchwoman.  There  will  be  young 
collegians    and    young    girls    chaperoned    by    their 


36o      THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

mothers.  In  the  height  of  season,  from  February  to 
May,  one  will  hear  as  much  English  spoken  as 
Italian.  Scattered  about  are  little  cafe  tables,  where 
a  waiter  will  come  to  take  your  order,  but  it  is  quite 
the  proper  thing  to  wander  about,  selecting  your  own 
cake  from  the  varied  assortment  displayed  on  long 
tables  and  counters  at  the  end  of  the  room.  The 
variety  of  these  cakes  is  bewildering.  In  the  con- 
fection of  little  sweet  cakes  the  Italians  lead  the 
world.  Coffee  is  usually  good,  the  tea  fair  to  mid- 
dling and  the  chocolate  is  served  with  whipped  cream. 
The  price  of  it  all  depends  upon  one's  capacity  for 
sweet  things,  but  a  lira  should  cover  the  cost  of  many 
cakes.  In  most  of  these  Italian  pastry  shops  there  Is 
something  which  greatly  resembles  a  bar,  from  which 
are  distributed  all  manner  of  drinks ;  that  most  largely 
consumed  is  the  sweet,  sticky,  Italian  Vermouth,  the 
best  brand  of  which  Is  familiarly  called  ''  Cinzano." 
The  Italian  comes,  too,  to  the  pastry  shop  for  his 
before-dinner  aperitif,  when  he  usually  orders  bitters, 
the  most  popular  brand  being  '^  Fernet-Branca.^' 

The  Italian  pastry  shop  Is  found  in  the  most 
unexpected  places,  often  as  an  attachment  of  a  drug 
store,  when  it  will  be  labelled  "  Drogheria  e  Pastic- 
carla,"  an  ominous  conjunction  of  words.  Queer 
places  they  are,  but  barring  the  pastry,  they  run 
otherwise  somewhat  parallel  to  our  own  drug  stores. 
The  soda  fountain  is  replaced  by  rows  of  bottles  of 
sticky,  syrupy  drinks,  and  one  stands  before  the 
counter  and  orders  a  "  Cinzano,"  or  sits  down  at  a 
little  table  and  sips  bitters.     The   Italians  declare 


LIGHT  REFRESHMENTS  361 

that  Vermouth  is  an  antidote  for  fever,  but  in  spite 
of  this  theory  the  drogheria  is  as  prevalent  as  the 
pasticcaria,  and  often  combines  the  functions  of  the 
two  in  as  appetising  a  way  as  possible,  the  chief 
precaution  taken  seeming  to  be  that  the  drugs  shall 


not  get  mixed  up  with  the  pastry.  You  sit  at  a  little 
table  and  watch  the  show  go  on,  sipping  a  cup  of 
chocolate,  while  the  young  man  at  the  counter  at 
your  elbow  weighs  out  senna  and  quinine  to  another 
client. 

The  pasticcaria  in  Italy  is  particularly  welcome,  as 
meals  out  of  hours  at  hotels  are  rather  uncertain, 
particularly  in  the  countryside  trattoria.  It  is  a  fact, 
too,  that  the  rolls  and  coffee  that  one  gets  at  the 
pasticcaria  are  usually  far  and  away  ahead  of  those 
of  the  alhergo. 

The  fare  of  the  German  beer  garden  is  an  agree- 
able varient  in  the  food  that  one  eats  between  hours, 


362      THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

though  its  speiskarte  is  chiefly  cheese  and  sandwiches. 
Between  Italy  and  Germany  comes  Switzerland. 
The  business-like  Swiss  restaurant  and  inn-keepers 
are  all  things  to  all  classes  of  travellers,  and  one 
may  run  the  gamut  from  the  tea-shop,  French  cafe 
through  to  the  beer  garden.  Switzerland  has,  more- 
over, its  own  style  of  go-between  meals.  Nearly 
every  panorama  of  lake  and  mountain  may  be  en- 
joyed from  the  vantage  point  of  some  little  eating 
place,  where  one  sits  under  a  neatly  barbered  tree 
and  eats  bread  and  butter  and  honey,  and  milk  from 
the  cows  that  graze  on  the  mountains  above  the 
clouds.  Switzerland  flows  with  milk  and  honey. 
One  can  see  the  brown  and  white  cows  perched  high 
up  on  the  mountain  slopes,  but  one  never  sees  the 
busy  bees  that  supply  the  golden,  sticky,  so-called 
honey  that  is  so  lavishly  ladled  out.  This  very 
lavishness  on  the  part  of  the  economic  Swiss  is  of 
itself  suspicious.  The  little  waitress  of  the  Ober- 
land,  garbed  in  a  black  aureole  coiffe  and  a  breast- 
plate of  clanking,  silver  chains,  once  gave  away  the 
receipt:  "  Oh,  no;  it's  not  honey;  it's  made  of  sugar 
and  glucose  and  something  else;  I  have  forgot  just 
what,  madame."  It  may  have  been  the  honey  that 
was  forgotten,  for  there  is  undoubtedly  little  of  the 
bee-made  taste  about  the  concoction.  However,  the 
glorious  mountain  air  counteracts  any  bad  effects,  and 
one  is  not  critical  or  over-fastidious  of  their  food 
with  such  a  panorama  as  that  of  the  Alps  in  view. 

Prices  rise  with  the  altitude  in  the  Alps,  the  cost 
of  living  depending  largely  upon  the  difficulty  of 


LIGHT  REFRESHMENTS 


363 


transporting  food  up  and  down  mountain  roads. 
From  one  to  two  francs  ought,  though,  to  buy  a 
little  Swiss  luncheon,  which  will  be  served  on  the 
red  and  white  checkerboard  tablecloth  that  one  usu- 
ally sees  in  a  Swiss  or  German  restaurant — the  pat- 
tern sometimes  varies,  but  the  colour  scheme  rarely. 
Under  German  influence  light  refreshments  take 
on  a  more  substantial  aspect.     Whatever  may  be  the 


good  qualities  of  Teutonic  food,  it  cannot  be  qualified 
by  the  adjective  dainty,  though  it  is  probably  better 
fuel  upon  which  to  tour  than  tea  and  pastry.  On 
the  whole,  the  German  beer  garden  is  more  enjoyable 
than  a  stuffy  tea-shop  or  cafe.  One  sits  under  shady 
trees  on  the  bank  of  a  river,  if  there  is  one,  with  a 
good  band  playing  within  sight  and  sound,  the  Ger- 
man not  being  able  to  eat  an  enjoyable  meal  or  drink 
with  pleasure,  without  good  music  and  plenty.     The 


364      THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

menu  is  abundant,  but  half  a  litre  of  beer,  with  a 
cheese  or  ham  sandwich,  or  a  plate  of  cold  meat  gar- 
nished with  potato  salad,  is  an  indication  that  suffi- 
cient business  is  being  transacted  to  warrant  your 
being  allowed  to  spend  a  whole  afternoon  or  evening 
without  being  expected  to  move  on. 

The  average  German  beer  garden  is  an  eminently 
proper  place,  even  for  the  lone  woman.  The  cli- 
entele around  one  will  be  made  up  of  family  parties, 
apparently  occupying  themselves  with  drinking  end- 
less chains  of  steins  of  beer,  but  in  reality  making 
one  big  mug  last  a  whole  evening.  Chiefly  it  is  the 
size  of  the  beer  mug  that  makes  the  German  out 
such  a  hard  drinker.  There  is  usually  coffee  to  be 
had  if  one  wants  it,  though  it  is  not  necessary  to 
follow  the  custom  recently  established  in  the  more 
popular  and  showy  beer  gardens  of  the  towns  and 
make  one's  own  coffee  at  the  table.  This  is  sup- 
posedly a  local  custom,  but  in  reality  has  been  estab- 
lished as  a  costly  detail  with  which  to  keep  the 
tourist  interested. 

In  Germany,  Teutonic  Switzerland  and  Austria 
are  found  the  classic  and  monumental  beersteuben, 
gaudy  with  ornate  mediaeval  German  decorations, 
where  much  the  same  programme,  with  its  accom- 
paniments, is  carried  out  indoors. 

The  family  life  in  evidence  in  Germany  gives  the 
woman  from  abroad  a  feeling  of  security  that  is 
often  wanting  in  the  surroundings  of  the  French 
cafe;  the  *' other  world"  does  not  to  any  extent 
frequent  the  best  class  of  these  German  establish- 


LIGHT  REFRESHMENTS  365 

ments,  or  if  it  does,  it  is  not  in  such  a  way  that  the 
stranger  is  cognisant  of  it  as  an  element.  This  diver- 
sion of  music  and  light  refreshment  is  also  a  solution 
as  to  what  shall  be  done  with  the  woman  traveller's 
evenings,  and  as  one  phase  of  German  family  life 
is  here  spread  out  for  inspection,  contemplation  of  it 
should  be  most  instructive  and  amusing. 

Since  the  French  cafe  practically  serves  no  nourish- 
ment other  than  its  liquid  refreshments — a  fact  that 
Americans  abroad  do  not  always  take  into  considera- 
tion— and  since  that  delightful  adjunct  of  foreign 
life  is  treated  of  elsewhere  in  this  book,  no  further 
reference  is  made. 

In  the  cities  and  large  towns  of  France  are  found 
*'  Cafe-Restaurants  "  and  "  Brasseries,"  and  these, 
while  having  their  limitations  as  to  menus,  will  cater 
for  the  hurried  hungry  one  with  such  simple  dishes 
as  cold  meats,  sandwiches,  eggs  and  always  a  plat  de 
jour — a  single  special  hot  dish  each  day. 

In  Belgium  and  Holland,  those  indeterminate 
countries  where  the  characteristics  of  food  and  drink 
borrow  much  from  either  side — Holland  from  the 
German  and  Belgium  from  the  French — the  cafe 
and  the  beer  hall  thrive  side  by  side,  each  practically 
unchanged  from  what  it  is  in  the  land  of  its  birth. 

In  Brussels,  to  mark  another  distinction,  is  to  be 
seen  the  popular  *'  Taverne."  Nowhere  else  does 
the  combined  eating  and  drinking  place  of  this  class 
rise  to  such  a  height.  Virtually  it  is  an  elaborated 
cafe,  with  a  full  restaurant  service.  For  anything 
approaching  a  substantial  meal,  one  picks  out  a  place 


366      THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

at  one  of  the  already  set  out  tables;  if  only  a  sand- 
wich, a  glass  of  beer  or  a  cup  of  tea  is  wanted,  one 
is  served  on  a  plain  oak  table  undressed  with  napery. 

There  remains  but  one  form  of  itinerant  eating 
abroad  to  be  considered  in  the  nature  of  a  simple 
repast,  and  by  this  is  referred  to  such  refreshment 
as  one  takes  at  a  railway  station  in  the  interval  be- 
tween trains.  In  France  some  of  these  railway  eat- 
ing houses  are  really  excellent,  celebrated  even,  like 
that  at  Dijon.  This  comes  rather  in  the  class  of  a 
pretentious  restaurant,  but  the  lunch  counter  acces- 
sory is  conducted  on  the  same  bountiful  lines,  the 
three-franc  dejeuner  of  the  restaurant  descending  in 
price,  but  not  in  quality,  to  the  one  franc,  twenty-five 
centime  repast  of  the  marble-topped  table  of  the 
lunchroom.  Snails  and  the  rich  red  wine  of  Bur- 
gundy are  likely  enough  to  be  an  accompaniment  of 
each,  hence  the  epicure  has  only  impecuniosity  to  re- 
gret in  case  he  dines  or  sups  at  the  lower  price. 

The  dining-car  services  on  European  railways  are 
good  or  bad  as  the  mood  is  on,  but  they  serve  their 
purpose  in  a  way,  though  there  is  nothing  especially 
characteristic  of  any  land  about  them  or  their  food, 
nor  is  their  provender  or  cooking  any  better  than 
it  ought  to  be.     Moreover,  they  are  costly. 

Dining  on  the  cross  channel  boats  between  Eng- 
land and  France  is  atrocious,  as  indeed  it  is  at  most 
railway  eating  houses  in  England.  On  Mediterra- 
nean steamers  between  France  and  north  African 
ports,  particularly  on  those  lines  which  are  French, 
the  formal  French  course  lunch  and  dinner  is  often 


LIGHT  REFRESHMENTS  367 

excellent,  If  one  is  able  to  partake  thereof — wine, 
coffee  and  liqueurs  being  included — for  the  smilingly 
blue  waters  of  the  Mediterranean  Lake  can  be*  tur- 
bulent at  times. 

One  lunches  and  dines  delightfully,  too,  on  a 
Rhine  steamer,  as  luxuriously  or  as  simply  as  one 
will,  on  deck,  in  between  glimpses  of  Rhine  castles, 
to  the  accompaniment  of  the  inevitable  German  band. 
On  the  boats  of  the  Swiss  and  Italian  lakes  the  same 
thing  is  partially  true,  but  the  melody  which  goes 
with  the  meals  is  more  of  the  dulcet  Italian  variety 
than  that  of  the  brazen  Teuton. 


FEMININE  VIEWPOINT 

SEARCHERS  AFTER  THRILLS 

FUNCTION  OF  THE  CAFE 

CAFE  ETIQUETTE  FOR  THE  FRENCHWOMAN 

CAFE  CLIENTELE 

CAFES  OF  THE  PARIS  BOULEVARDS 

AMERICAN  FAMILY  AND  PARIS  CAFE 

ENGLISH   OUTLOOK 

PARIS   CAFES  AND  BRASSERIES 

PEEP  AT  BOHEMIA 

CAFES  OF  THE  LATIN  QUARTER 

GIRL   ART    STUDENTS 

ART  AND  THE  CAFE 

CAFES  OF  THE  FRENCH  TOWNS 

SMALL  CAFES  OF  THE  PROVINCES 

FRENCHWOMAN  "  EN  TOUR  " 

CAFE  FOR  THE  WOMAN  TRAVELLER 

USEFULNESS  OF  THE  FRENCH  CAFE 

CAFE  BEVERAGES 

FRENCH  CUP  OF  COFFEE 

INNOCUOUS  **  TIZANES  '' 

ICE  AND  ICES 

MINERAL  WATERS 

MISUSE  OF  THE  WORD  CAFE 

COFFEE  AND  ROLLS 


XV 


THE  WOMAN  TRAVELLER  AND  THE 
FRENCH  CAFE 

An  American  woman  once  asked  a  woman  friend, 
confidentially,  as  to  what  she  might  do,  now  that  she 
was  in  Paris,  that  would  be  *'  real  daring  and  un- 
conventional." She  was  acting  on  the  general  delu- 
sion that  one  goes  to  Paris  for  the  most  attractive 
form  of  high-class  bohemianism  as  one'  goes  to 
Brussels  for  lace  and  Geneva  for  furs ! 

Her  sophisticated  friend  answered  her  by  telling 
her  to  go  to  a  cafe  at  eleven  o'clock  at  night  and 
drink  an  absinthe! 

Neither  of  these  searchers  after  thrills  realised 
that  the  only  part  of  the  programme  that  would 
really  shock  the  habitues  of  any  Paris  cafe  would  be 
the  wooing  of  the  "Green  Fairy"  of  the  hour  of 
the  aperitif  (which  is  a  before-dinner  function)  so 
late  in  the  day. 

This  fairly  illustrates  the  common  feminine  view- 
point of  the  ofttimes  useful  and  always  attractive 
French  cafe.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  French  cafe 
(for  while  its  counterpart  exists  in  all  Continental 
Europe,  its  origin  is  French,  and  it  there  fulfils  best 
its  functions)  is  neither  an  eating  house,  a  bar-par- 
lour, or  a  saloon,  as  is  often  imagined;  and  certainly 

371 


372      THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

the  average  well-kept  French  cafe  is  far  from  being 
an  objectionable  resting-place  for  the  weary  traveller, 
man  or  woman.  It  might  be  better  described  as  a 
meeting-place  where  the  Frenchman  goes  to  take  his 
after  dejeuner  cup  of  coffee,  or  his  aperitif  before 
dinner.     Here  he  reads  his   daily  paper,   writes   a 


letter,  perhaps,  and,  hon  pere  de  famille  though  he 
is,  often  has  a  quiet  game  of  dominoes  or  backgam- 
mon with  a  friend. 

The  rules  governing  the  sobriety  and  propriety  of 
the  cafe  in  France  are  strict  and  usually  enforced, 
and  the  conventional  cafe  and  its  clientele  is  in  general 
most  orthodox.  This,  though,  is  not  a  defence  of 
the  cafe  habit  as  it  is  unfortunately  frequently  prac- 
tised by  many  Frenchmen  and  strangers  alike,  but  a 


WOMAN  TRAVELLER  AND  FRENCH  CAF£     373 

few  notes  and  hints  as  to  how  and  when  it  may  be 
made  useful,  within  limits,  to  the  woman  traveller 
abroad. 

Taking  the  cafes  of  France  as  the  most  perfect 
exponents  of  that  useful  institution,  it  is  to  be  re- 
marked that  their  etiquette  changes  as  does  the  topog- 
raphy and  climate  of  their  environment,  but  it  almost 
universally  is  to  be  remarked  that  no  Frenchwoman 
of  repute,  regardless  of  her  standing  in  the  social 
scale,  enters  a  cafe  unless  attended  by  some  male 
member  of  her  family,  or  with  friends,  but  still  under 
the  protecting  wing  of  some  man  belonging  to  the 
party.  There  may  be  times  and  occasions  which 
make  justifiable  exceptions  to  rules:  at  a  cafe  in  a 
railway  station,  perhaps,  or  at  some  watering  place, 
or  ville  d'eau;  but  in  a  general  way  the  edict  may  be 
taken  as  absolute,  and  its  observance  taken  to  strict 
account  save  in  those  exceptional  conditions  that  one 
has  to  deal  with  as  they  come  up. 

In  Paris,  the  female  portion  of  the  cafes*  clientele 
is  largely  made  up  from  the  gay  underworld,  and  it 
is  this  fact  which  is  largely  responsible  for  the  stigma 
which  has  been  attached  to  the  cafe  idea.  But  there 
are  cafes  and  cafes;  it  is  not  especially  of  the  grand 
cafes  of  the  capital  that  this  article  deals.  The 
cafes  of  the  Grands  Boulevards  are  frequented  also 
by  the  tourists  who  go  because  they  think,  as  did 
the  American  woman,  that  it  gives  the  naughty  zest 
needed  to  accentuate  their  trip  abroad,  but  more 
often  for  the  better  reason  that  from  the  wicker 
chairs  grouped  around  the  little  tables  on  the  terrasse 


374      THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

of  such  establishments  as  the  Grande  Cafe,  the  Cafe 
de  la  Paix,  the  Cafe  Royale  or  Pousset's,  they  have 
the  best  viewpoint  of  the  brilliantly  moving  pageant 
of  Paris  life.  These  are  the  orchestra  seats  at  the 
passing  show. 

To  the  Parisian  cafe  the  American  man  confidently 
brings  all  the  members  of  his  family,  from  the  school- 
girl In  short  dresses  to  the  young  lady  whose  coming 
out  is  put  down  for  that  autumn,  when  they  have  all 
returned  and  settled  down  in  Oshkosh  or  Oskaloosa. 
They  order  one  of  the  many  sweet,  coloured  drinks 
which  the  cafe  supplies  in  any  chromatic  combination 
or  taste  that  one's  fancy  may  suggest,  and  which  they 
don't  like  overmuch  after  they  get  them.  All  this 
joyous  family  laugh  and  talk  together  as  if  they 
were  at  a  garden  party  at  home,  meanwhile  casting 
envious  glances  at  the  resplendent  world  of  Paris  as 
it  passes  by.  It  is  all  a  part  of  the  Paris  game,  and 
the  mere  man  pays  the  bill  and  tips  the  garqon  over- 
plus and  they  all  move  on  contented  enough  with  the 
first  act  of  the  piece,  perhaps  to  do  the  same  thing 
over  again  a  few  doors  away,  where  the  stage  is 
similarly  set,  quite  unconscious  of  the  character  of 
the  crowd  with  whom  they  have  rubbed  elbows,  the 
furtive-eyed  women  and  the  houlevardiers. 

The  English  family  party  may  be  seen  there  too, 
but  In  no  such  numbers,  nor  are  they  so  oblivious 
to  their  surroundings;  their  attitude  Is  one  of  recog- 
nition, but  indifference.  They  are  away  from  home, 
among  foreigners,  so  what  difference  can  it  make? 
Besides,  the  English  family  is  not  so  apt  to  be  bur- 


WOMAN  TRAVELLER  AND  FRENCH  CAF£    375 

dened  with  the  "  young  person,"  and  they  are  pleased 
to  be  able  to  relax  from  a  traditional  prudery  in  the 
genial  atmosphere  of  Paris,  a  city  which  asks  nothing 
from  the  strangers  within  her  gates,  but  that  they 
shall  make  as  sleek  an  appearance  as  do  the  inhab- 
itants themselves,  and  dispense  money  with  an  open 
hand. 

There  are  certain  of  the  higher  class  cafes  and 
brasseries  of  the  Paris  boulevards  where  more  or 
less  elaborate  musical  programmes  are  given  each 
evening,  or  on  certain  evenings  during  the  week.  It 
is  understood  that  the  brasserie,  in  this  case,  means 
an  establishment  which  makes  a  specialty  of  serving 
beer,  more  or  less  after  the  German  manner,  though 
it  also  purveys  all  of  the  varied  assortment  of  drinks 
to  be  had  in  the  conventional  cafe. 

Here  in  these  brilliantly  lighted  cafes,  brasseries 
and  "  tavernes  " — another  English  word  which  has 
crept  insiduously  into  French — one  occasionally  sees 
a  French  family  entire  taking  a  peep  into  what  they 
fondly  consider  a  bypath  of  Bohemia  under  the  guise 
of  a  musical  evening.  Young  girls  may  be  of  the 
party,  but  invariably  strongly  and  discreetly  flanked 
by  a  solid  and  substantial  brace  of  parents,  besides, 
more  often  than  not,  a  grandparent  or  two  as  well, 
or  at  least  an  uncle  or  an  aunt.  All  in  all  they  are 
a  most  decorous  and  orthodox  party.  They  sip  in- 
nocent, sweet  drinks,  listen  attentively  to  the  very 
good  music  and  leave  early,  at  the  hour  when  others 
are  just  beginning  to  warm  up  and  have  a  good  time. 

About  the  only  cafes  in  Paris  that  the  English- 


376      THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

speaking  woman  is  to  be  seen  at  alone  are  certain  of 
those  in  the  Latin  Quarter,  or  In  the  vicinity  of  the 
Gare  Montparnasse.  And  these  are  the  very  ones 
that  they  should  not  frequent,  certainly  not  without 
a  male  escort. 

These  cafes  of  the  "  Rive  Gauche  "  particularly 
fascinate  the  youthful  girl  art  students  who  flock  to 
them  in  droves  when  the  day's  work  is  over,  prin- 
cipally on  account  of  their  real,  or  supposed,  celebrity, 
of  which  they  have  read  in  some  highly  coloured  ac- 
count of  the  real  student  world  of  Paris.  They 
flatter  themselves  at  this  stage  of  their  careers,  if 
they  have  not  already  done  so  before,  that  they  are 
floating  glorywards  In  the  true  ethereal  atmosphere 
of  art.  These  young  aspirants  of  the  cafes  of  the 
Rue  de  Rennes  and  the  Boulevard  Montparnasse  all 
carry  note-books.  In  which  they  peck  away  at  little 
sub-rosa  sketches  of  the  people  around  them,  as  they 
understand  Is  the  cafe-habit  of  those  really  great  in 
the  art  world.  They  will  stare  some  assuming 
young,  or  old,  painter,  who  may  have  come  to  the 
cafe  for  some  good  and  suflicient  reason,  out  of 
countenance  at  a  vain  attempt  at  hero-worship,  for 
the  majority  of  them  are  young  girls  and  know  no 
better  than  to  be  seen  alone,  or  in  bunches,  amid  sur- 
roundings more  or  less  questionable  because  of  their 
geographical  location. 

Occasionally  a  young  girl  of  this  class  Is  to  be  seen 
showing  some  older  and  more  staid  maiden  relative 
the  sights  of  the  neighbourhood.  She  has  only  been 
in  Paris  for  a  week,  and  leaves  again  on  the  follow- 


WOMAN  TRAVELLER  AND  FRENCH  CAPfe     377 

ing  Saturday,  and  is  thus  so  impressed  by  "  Mamie's  " 
or  "  Carrie's  "  strides  in  art-lore  and  worldly  wisdom 
that  she  neglects  to  pass  judgment  upon  the  sur- 
roundings, or  even  question  their  propriety,  even  were 
she  fitted  to  do  so. 

There  is  one  well-known  more  or  less  bohemian 
cafe  of  this  same  neighbourhood  whose  regular 
clientele  has  been  absolutely  driven  away  by  these 
hoards  of  stranger  women  and  girls.  And  now  the 
aspirants  are  driven  to  sketching  themselves,  since 
no  celebrity  willingly  puts  in  an  appearance  until 
after  this  element  has  left. 

Young  girls,  or  any  unconducted  woman,  will  do 
well  to  keep  away  from  cafes  of  this  type  altogether, 
for  they  will  get  no  stimulus  for  either  art  or  morals 
therefrom,  beside  subjecting  themselves  to  criticism 
they  would  shrink  from  if  they  comprehended  its 
full  significance. 

In  some  of  the  larger  provincial  capitals,  such  as 
Rouen,  Lyons  or  Bordeaux,  it  is  quite  the  thing  for 
a  section  of  the  local  society  element  to  patronise 
certain  of  the  larger  cafes.  Here  family  groups 
will  be  seen  between  the  hours  of  four  and  six 
in  the  afternoon  taking  an  ice,  or  even  tea,  or 
"  le  five  o^ clock/'  as  the  French  call  it.  The  cafe 
then  becomes  a  rendezvous  for  friends  and  acquaint- 
ances, and  assumes  somewhat  the  air  of  a  legitimate 
social  function. 

It  is  in  the  small  towns,  however,  that  one  finds 
the  typical  cafe  functioning  in  its  best  and  most 
legitimate  sense,  in  the  chefs-lieux,  or  county  towns, 


378      THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

and  in  the  Sous-Prefectures.  The  etiquette  to  be 
observed  by  the  resident  of  the  small  French  town 
is  something  remarkably  stringent.  It  Is  here  that 
the  cafe  is  more  nearly  a  man's  club,  and  no  woman 
resident  would  dream  of  setting  a  foot  inside  of  it 
save  on  certain  very  special  open-house  occasions, 
such  as  a  general,  or  local,  fete-day,  the  jour  de  Van, 
or  the  Fete  Nationale  on  the  fourteenth  of  July,  and 
then  is  only  allowed  as  a  great  concession  to  the  cause 
of  liberty  by  an  indulgent  husband  or  brother,  or  in 
company  of  a  party  of  relatives  or  friends. 

Curiously  enough,  away  from  home,  en  voyage, 
the  Frenchwoman  avails  herself  of  the  privileges  and 
the  accommodations  of  the  cafe  as  suits  her  fancy, 
though  in  most  cases  she  will  even  then  be  found 
protected  by  some  male  relative  who  has  come  to  the 
station  to  see  her  off  or  to  meet  her.  For  such  a 
simple  want  as  a  cup  of  coffee,  an  ice,  or  any  slight 
refreshment,  she  is  thus  well  catered  for,  though  it 
would  never  occur  to  her  to  apply  to  the  same  source 
in  her  own  town.  When  she  travels  the  thing  be- 
comes ''  comme  il  faut/*  though  a  Frenchwoman 
travelling  alone  Is  almost  as  rare  a  sight  as  would 
be  that  of  the  dodo.  If  Frenchwomen  are  encoun- 
tered alone,  even  in  a  country  town.  It  may  be  safely 
assumed  that  the  protecting  male  missed  connections 
somewhere  along  the  line,  and  that  the  journey  is 
more  or  less  lengthy  away  from  home.  It  may  be 
set  down,  however,  that  the  Frenchwoman  rarely 
avails  herself  of  this  concession  to  her  needs,  usually 
preferring  to  load  herself  down  with  a  big  lunch 


J  ;  ,*  '  i 


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.«•   -•-•••  • 


WOMAN  TRAVELLER  AND  FRENCH  CAF£    379 

basket  in  which  she  can  carry  a  bottle  of  wine,  or 
water,  for  her  refreshment.  The  Frenchwoman's 
wants  are  simple  whilst  travelling,  and  easily  satis- 
fied, and  though  she  may  have  to  wait  three  hours 
for  a  train  in  correspondence  at  some  junction  point, 
she  would  much  prefer  to  spend  her  time  in  the 
waiting-room  of  a  station,  or  in  the  draughty  train- 
shed  of  some  of  the  great  gore,  rather  than  seek  the 
comfort  and  shelter  of  a  nearby  cafe.  Travel,  for 
the  Frenchwoman,  is  an  uncomfortable  procedure 
at  best,  and  all  its  inconveniences  she  has  made  up 
her  mind  to  suffer  stoically  before  she  started  out. 

Such  a  condition  would  never  exist  for  the  Amer- 
ican girl  with  a  thirst  bred  of  the  drinking  of  much 
iced  water,  or  for  her  English  cousin  who  counts  the 
day  lost  that  does  not  begin  and  end  with  tea.  To 
them  the  cafe  will  fill  a  long-felt  want. 

What,  though,  is  the  English-speaking  woman 
traveller  to  do  who  has  not  a  male  escort  by  her, 
and  probably  two-thirds  of  those  who  travel  are  with- 
out that  useful  adjunct? 

The  answer  is  simple:  make  use  of  the  latitude 
given  the  woman  traveller,  notwithstanding  French 
etiquette,  and  patronise  the  respectable,  modest- 
looking  cafe  on  the  corner  opposite.  Nothing  will 
be  amiss  in  your  so  doing,  so  do  not  be  dismayed. 

It  is  quite  possible  for  the  woman  tourist,  with 
or  without  a  male  escort,  to  go  to  a  cafe  in  any  part 
of  France  and  order  what  she  may  wish  within  the 
limits  of  what  they  can  supply.  This  may  indeed  be 
a  breach  of  French  etiquette  as  it  is  practised,  but 


38o      THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

the  fact  that  she  Is  a  foreigner,  one  of  those 
etrangeres  whose  goings  and  comings  are  not  to  be 
measured  by  French  feminine  standards,  will  amply 
excuse  the  action  In  the  eyes  of  the  occupants  of  the 
cafe,  and  should  justify  one's  presence  to  herself 
and  to  the  world. 

If  one  Is  sometimes  stared  at  In  a  cafe  It  Is  not 
likely  to  be  so  much  out  of  rudeness,  nor  familiarity, 
as  from  curiosity.  The  men  are  usually  so  absorbed 
in  their  backgammon,  dominoes,  picquet  or  boston,  or 
engrosssed  in  discussions  of  local  affairs  over  their 
mazagrans  and  their  petits  verves  as  to  usually  be 
indifferent,  utterly,  to  the  feminine  Intruder.  The 
average  provincial  Frenchman  is  much  more  decor- 
ous than  our  traditions  have  led  us  to  suppose;  this 
one  may  put  down  for  an  Indisputable  fact. 

It  is  difficult  to  see  how  the  woman  en  tour  In  the 
picturesque  provinces  of  old  France,  in  the  little 
towns  off  the  beaten  tracks,  can  avoid  the  cafe,  even 
should  her  instincts  be  against  it.  Whether  attended 
or  not,  it  Is  but  natural  that  her  tastes  should  demand 
a  cup  of  black  coffee  after  dejeuner  or  dinner;  and 
if  her  habits  are  such  that  she  is  perfectly  miserable 
without  a  refreshing  cup  of  tea  in  the  afternoon,  she 
surely  ought  to  have  a  chance  to  gratify  these  simple 
wants. 

Outside  the  cities  and  the  resorts  it  is  almost  im- 
possible to  get  a  cup  of  coffee  that  is  drinkable  in 
France,  the  supposed  land  of  good  coffee;  and  the 
tea  is  of  a  more  debatable  quality  even.  This  comes 
undoubtedly  from  the  fact  that  the  hotels  are  not 


WOMAN  TRAVELLER  AND  FRENCH  CAFt    381 

in  the  habit  of  supplying  these  two  articles  of  con- 
sumption, and  indeed  the  proprietor  expects  his 
clientele  to  patronise  the  neighbouring  cafe  for  them, 
where,  for  a  fact,  he  goes  himself  often  enough  for 
his  after-dinner  coffee. 

To  be  sure,  if  pressed,  he  will  make  a  shift  and 
turn  out  something  that  goes  under  the  name  of  tea 


U'^^,      '^ 


or  coffee,  but  it  will  not  only  be  undrinkable,  but 
cost  more  than  a  better,  fresher  infusion  to  be  had 
at  a  cafe. 

Do  not  hesitate,  then,  to  patronise  the  local  cafe 
of  the  small  French  town  where  you  may  be  '*  do- 
ing "  a  cathedral  or  a  chateau.  Its  general  aspect 
may  be  lowly,  but  it  may  possess  a  grimness  coming 


382      THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

of  many  generations  of  smokers,  but  its  tiled,  or, 
perhaps,  sawdust  strewn  floor  is  probably  cleaner  than 
it  looks,  and  one  will  find  compensating  amusement 
in  the  study  of  the  local  types  to  be  seen  there,  as 
well  as  the  opportunity  of  partaking  of  the  refresh- 
ment one  desires. 

One  fares  best  at  the  French  cafe  in  the  warm 
season,  when  all  the  world  sits  outside  under  the 
awnings  on  the  terrasse,  which  may  be  even  a  real 
terrace  shaded  with  vines  and  screened  from  inquisi- 
tive passersby  by  evergreens  in  tubs,  or,  more  fre- 
quently, merely  a  part  of  the  sidewalk  for  which  the 
proprietor  pays  a  tax  or  a  rental  to  the  municipality 
for  the  privilege  of  putting  out  his  tables  and  chairs. 

Here  is  another  problem  solved — after  a  fashion 
— for  the  woman  traveller.  A  sitting-room  of  any 
description  is  practically  unknown  in  the  French 
country  hotel,  and  even  in  many  of  those  of  the 
larger  towns  where  tourists  of  convention  do  some- 
times happen  along.  What  is  the  indefatigable 
woman  sight-seer  to  do,  then,  when  she  wants  to 
gather  strength  for  another  round  ?  Stay  in  her  bed- 
room? Shades  of  Saint-Hubert — the  patron  saint 
of  hotel-keepers — forbid.  Fancy  the  tired  traveller 
resting  or  writing  in  the  bare,  chilly,  bedroom  of  the 
average  French  country  hotel,  with  never  an  easy- 
chair  of  any  kind.  Writing  on  one's  knees  may  be 
feminine,  but  it  isn't  comfortable. 

There  is  really  nothing  left  but  to  do  as  the  French 
do;  use  the  cafe  for  a  sitting,  reading  or  writing- 
room,  according  to  one's  needs;  and  on^  can  do  this 


WOMAN  TRAVELLER  AND  FRENCH  CAPfe    383 

for  as  long  a  time  as  they  choose  for  the  price  of 
a  cup  of  coffee  or  tea,  or  a  glass  of  milk  (hot  or 
cold),  if  tastes  are  more  simple. 

Often  there  will  be  a  cafe  attached  to  the  hotel, 
but  conducted  quite  as  a  separate  establishment;  if 
not,  the  hotel  proprietor  will  direct  you  to  the  one 
you  should  patronise,  considering  that  what  you  may 
want  is  a  certain  recognition  as  to  its  propriety.  Any- 
way, when  in  doubt,  fall  back  on  common  sense,  and 
use  your  best  judgment,  which  will  soon  become 
trained  and  able  to  scent  the  cafe  best  suited  to  your 
needs  as  far  as  you  can  see  its  name  on  the  sign  over 
the  door. 

To  the  woman  traveller  with  scruples,  who  thinks 
she  will  be  obliged  to  drink  only  alcoholic  beverages 
if  she  goes  to  a  cafe,  the  following  may  tend  to 
relieve  her  mind. 

There  will  always  be  coffee  on  tap,  black,  black  as 
strong  coffee  can  be,  and  blacker  yet  sometimes  when 
an  undue  amount  of  chickory  has  been  added.  It 
will  be  served  either  in  a  cup  or  a  tall  glass,  as  you 
prefer,  the  latter,  known  as  a  mazagran,  being  its 
most  acceptable  form.  To  women,  the  custom  seems 
to  be  to  serve  it  without  question  in  a  small  cup,  this 
seemingly  being  a  spontaneous  concession  to  the  pres- 
ence of  the  fair  sex  and  their  desire  to  drink  coffee 
any  way,  which,  indeed,  many  Frenchwomen  do  not, 
except  in  the  early  morning.  Whether  one  takes  it 
in  a  glass  or  in  a  cup,  the  quantity  and  the  price  are 
the  same. 

Jf  coffee  with  milk  is  wanted,  you  should  ask  for 


384      THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

cafe-creme,  and  not  for  cafe-au-lmt.  In  either  case 
it  is  the  same  thing,  save  that  in  the  former  instance 
it  is  generally  served  in  the  tall  glass,  and  in  the 
latter  it  will  generally  be  accompanied  by  another 
glass  in  which  reposes  a  jauntily  rolled  serviette,  or 
doily,   for  which   adornment  you  will  perhaps  pay 


|THe  FR€MCH  Cup  or  Qo 


double  the  regular  price  for  the  same  coffee  and  the 
same  milk — not  creme,  though  it  be  called  such. 

One  finds  good  tea  now  at  almost  any  important 
cafe  in  any  French  town  of  eight  or  ten  thousand  in- 
habitants. The  French,  within  the  past  few  years, 
have  become  quite  confirmed  tea  drinkers,  and  while 
the  English  afternoon  tea  habit  is  only  an  adjunct  of 
the  *'  high-life  "  whose  members  ape  foreign  ways,  the 
provincial  Frenchman  often  takes  a  cup  of  tea  after 
meals  instead  of  coffee. 

Tea  ordered  in  a  French  cafe  is  always  served 
"  nature^^  without  milk.     If  milk  is  wanted  it  must 


p' 


WOMAN  TRAVELLER  AND  FRENCH  CAF£    385 

be  asked  for,  and  in  addition,  an  increased  price  is 
paid  usually,  the  combination  costing  perhaps  fifty 
centimes,  whereas  otherwise  it  may  be  but  thirty  or 
thirty-five. 

One  can  also  get  hot  or  cold  milk  at  a  cafe,  though 
the  latter  will  most  likely  have  previously  been  boiled, 
and  thus  in  warm  weather  will  lack  a  certain  fresh- 
ness of  taste  which  will  not  be  agreeable  to  every- 
body. 

All  cafes  serve  a  remarkable  assortment  of 
''  tizanes ''  on  order,  infusions  of  most  of  the  leaves 
and  blossoms  of  the  herborists'  encyclopedia.  They 
taste,  all  of  them,  like  the  medicines  at  which  we 
used  to  revolt  in  our  youth,  but  are  supposed  to  be 
beneficial  for  real  or  imaginary  nerves  or  other  slight 
indispositions.  And  they  probably  are;  or  at  least 
they  are  probably  harmless. 

The  most  frequently  called  for  of  these  ''  tizanes  ** 
is  that  made  of  tilleul,  the  leaves  and  blossoms  of  the 
linden  tree.  Verveine  is  made  from  what  is  popu- 
larly called  the  lemon  verbena,  and  so  on  down  the 
list.  There  is  cammomile,  mint  and  many  more, 
which  truth  to  tell  often  do  not  look  inviting,  what- 
ever may  be  their  virtues.  They  are  served  in  the 
same  manner  as  tea,  always  In  a  cup,  and  boiling  hot. 

Lemonade,  the  kind  you  really  want,  in  a  French 
cafe  is  known  as  citron  press e,  or  citronnade,  never 
as  limonade.  In  the  former  case  you  are  brought 
a  cut  lemon,  a  glass  scraper,  or  pressoir,  and  the  other 
accessories  necessary  to  make  the  lemonade  yourself; 
and  in  the  latter,  you  are  served  a  horrible  abomina- 


386      THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

tion  out  of  a  bottle,  made  probably  of  a  solution  of 
citric  acid,  and  not  in  the  least  related  to  lemonade, 
save  as  the  name  appears  on  the  label  on  the  bottle. 

You  may  not  always  be  able  to  get  real  lemonade, 
and  the  American  girl  must  not  as  a  regular  thing 
count  on  ice,  though  if  ice  {glace  a  refraicher)  can 
be  had  anywhere  in  town  it  is  at  the  cafe,  though 
usually  only  in  the  heated  term. 

In  summer,  the  cafes  of  the  cities  and  large  towns 
make  a  specialty  of  ices — creams  and  sorbets.  They 
are  small  in  quantity,  and  large  in  price,  and  rather 
thin  for  the  American  girl's  taste.  They  are  served 
in  single  flavours,  or  as  a  melange  or  panachee,  that 
is,  two  or  more  kinds  to  a  portion,  but  must  be  so 
ordered,  unless  indeed  you  order  one  of  each  flavour, 
as  many  an  American  girl  has  done  before  now,  to 
the  astonishment  of  the  usually  placid  French  garqon. 

All  the  celebrated  French  mineral  waters  can  be 
had  at  any  cafe  with  any  pretence  whatever,  though 
you  will  be  forced  to  order  a  bottle,  or  in  some  cases, 
half  a  bottle ;  though  recently  the  tiny  quarter  bottles 
of  Vichy  have  appeared,  and  the  drinking  of  them  as 
an  aperitif  by  the  supposedly  blase  Frenchman  has 
become  quite  a  fad.  Prices  are  usually  marked  on 
a  saucer,  which  accompanies  the  article  ordered,  and 
range  from  thirty  centimes  to  seventy-five  centimes 
as  a  rule. 

The  misuse  of  the  word  "  cafe "  in  our  own 
country  as  applied  to  an  eating  place  often  misleads 
the  traveller  into  the  belief  that  the  cafe  abroad  is 
also  a  restaurant;  but  this  is  only  the  case  when  the 


WOMAN  TRAVELLER  AND  FRENCH  CAF£     387 

sign  reads  "  Cafe-Restaurant,"  otherwise  nothing  eat- 
able is  to  be  had  in  the  usual  cafe.  The  one  excep- 
tion being,  that  in  the  larger  towns,  if  one  wishes 
to  take  their  morning  cafe-au-lait  or  chocolate  at  a 
cafe  (which  is  frequently  preferable  to  taking  it  at 
the  hotel),  it  is  possible  to  order  a  roll  or  a  brioche 
with  it,  which  the  garqon  will  bring  in  from  the 
nearby  pastry  shop,  or  boulangerie;  but  beware  of 
complicating  the  order  by  a  demand  for  butter — you 
may  have  to  wait  half  the  morning  for  it  to  arrive, 
but  more  often  it  is  not  forthcoming  at  all. 

The  cafes  of  the  great  resorts,  like  Aix-les-Bains, 
Trouville,  Nice  or  Biarritz,  are  got  up  principally 
for  their  strange  clientele,  and  consequently  provide 
for  all  tastes,  with  perhaps  less  that  is  French  about 
them  than  any  other  cafes  in  France.  Here  women 
are  expected,  and  are  usually  to  be  found  in  as  large 
numbers  as  the  men.  Their  tastes  are  especially 
catered  for,  and  here  one  can  get  afternoon  tea, 
a  rAnglais,  with  cut  bread  and  butter  and  all  the 
rest,  jam  if  you  like  it,  and  plum-cake,  which  they 
know  as  ''  peekfreen/*  after  the  name  of  its  maker. 

A  word  at  the  end :  as  our  French  friends  say. 

The  usefulness  of  the  French  cafe  for  the  woman 
traveller  will  be  greatly  enhanced  by  a  discreet  man- 
ner and  an  unobtrusive  one  in  the  part  she  is  playing 
as  a  globe-trotter. 

The  American  girl  will  do  well  to  observe  and 
copy  closely  the  feminine  manners  and  customs  of 
the  country  in  which  she  may  be  touring.  Then 
when  she  must  defy  convention  it  will  be  with  as 


388      THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

little  foreign  cachet  as  possible.     This  will  go  far 
to  smooth  the  way. 

Much  is  forgiven  the  etrangere  to  be  sure,  and 
her  presence  at  the  French  cafe  is  the  least  of  the 
*'  shockings  ''  that  will  be  remembered  by  her  French 
critics  long  after  her  radiance  has  passed  away. 
*'  Les  dames  etrangeres  sont  toujours  gentiles/'  has 
come  to  be  a  commonplace  with  the  French.  What- 
ever else  they  may  think  depends  entirely  upon  the 
acts  of  the  individual. 


pme#eKman 


FRANKFORT  A  CENTRE  FOR  SPAS 

FASHIONABLE  HOMBURG  CURES  GOUT 

DRINKING  WATER  ON  SCHEDULE 

COSMOPOLITAN  BADEN  BADEN 

WIESBADEN  FOR  RHEUMATISM 

POPULAR  SPA  OF  THE  GERMANS 

NAUHEIM  CURES  ALL  HEART  PANGS  BUT  LOVE 

UNIQUE  EMS  FOR  THE  THROAT 

HISTORY  MADE  AT  EMS 

NEUNAHR's   famous  APOLLINARIS  SPRING 

MUD  BATHS  OF  KREUZNACH 

SCHWALBACH,  THE  WOMAN'S  SPA 

WILD  BAEDER  OF  THE  BLACK  FOREST 

BADENWEILER  OF  THE  ROMANS 

FAMOUS  SPAS  OF  BOHEMIA 

KINGLY  MARIENBAD 

MARIENBAD   REGULATES   AVOIRDUPOIS 

A  MILK  CURE 

VOGUE  OF  CARLSBAD 

CARLSBAD  FOR  HIGH  LIVING 

PUPP'S  HOTEL 


XVI 

SOME  GERMAN  SPAS 

It  is  in  the  Valley  of  the  Rhine  and  its  tributaries 
that  are  grouped  the  world^s  most  famous  springs 
and  baths.  Supposedly  this  is  a  condition  born  of 
internal  volcanic  eruptions,  and  a  spot  is  said  to  exist 
at  Homburg,  where  only  fifty  metres  separate  the 
surface  of  the  earth  from  the  unquenched  convulsions 
which  are  continually  going  on  within.  Nauheim, 
Wiesbaden  and  Ems  are  also  sizzling  on  the  same 
hot-plate. 

The  beneficient  effects  of  the  waters  of  these 
springs  come  from  something  more  than  their  chemi- 
cal constituents,  else  the  chemists  with  a  handful  of 
salts  could  fabricate  oceans  of  it — ^which  they  can't. 
The  ingredients  are  known  and  their  proportions,  but 
they  won't  mix,  at  least  after  they  are  mixed  they 
will  not  produce  the  same  results. 

Around  the  financial  capital  of  Frankfort  centre 
the  chief  of  these  German  spas.  A  high  or  low  or 
swollen  liver,  gout  in  its  most  rabid  form,  and  many 
other  fashionable  diseases  of  the  wealthy  are  treated 
at  Homburg ;  rheumatism  at  Wiesbaden ;  palpitations 
and  heart  weakenings,  from  any  cause  but  love,  are 
nowhere  so  efficaciously  cared  for  as  at  Nauheim ;  and 
a  smoker's  throat  is  sure  to  find  relief  at  Ems.     It 

391 


392      THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 


is  thus  that  diseases  and  their  cures  are  specialised, 
though  doubtless  under  a  certain  regime  the  same 
thing  might  be  accomplished  at  Homburg  where,  at 
the  Elizabeth  Spring,  according  to  Justus  von  Liebig, 

is  found  a  water 
with  many  of  the 
attributes  of,  and 
superior  to,  all  oth- 
ers, with  the  newly 
opened  Kaiserin 

Auguste- Victoria 
Quelle  a  close 
second. 

Besides  all  this, 
Homburg  is  a  re- 
sort, and  an  ex- 
pensive one,  with 
super-luxurious  ho- 
tels, but  not  gaudy, 
and  abounding  in 
comfort. 

One  drinks  and 
bathes,  commencing  with  the  early  hour  of  seven 
and  continuing  to  the  accompaniment  of  the  or- 
chestra in  the  park  all  through  the  day.  Your 
drinking  glass  at  the  spring  is  numbered,  and 
for  the  time  being  is  your  property,  and  you  sip 
your  quota,  walk  briskly  a  bit,  then  go  back  to 
breakfast,  when  by  following  a  sort  of  time-table,  or 
schedule,  you  are  kept  more  or  less  at  it,  drinking 
and  bathing  all  through  the  day.     It  should  be  said 


"B./WVCAA.     »ll 


SOME  GERMAN  SPAS  393 

that  you  put  yourself  in  the  hands  of  a  doctor  Imme- 
diately on  arriving — as  you  do  at  other  spas — and 
you  drink  just  what  and  just  the  quantity  he  pre- 
scribes, eat  accordingly  and  bathe  to  the  same  tune, 
in  hot,  cold  or  tepid  water,  or  in  an  adhesive  mixture 
of  mud,  as  the  case  may  be.  This  is  Homburg,  with 
tennis,  golf,  croquet  and  what  not  interspersed  during 
the  day,  and  bridge  and  bacarrat  all  night  if  you  are 
brave  enough  to  face  the  doctor  the  next  day  and  tell 
him  of  it. 

Baden  Baden,  too,  Is  fashionable.  Its  waters  effica- 
cious and  its  prices  Eiffel  Tower  high  and  something 
more.  An  overseas  clientele  in  the  majority  has 
done  this,  so  if  you  want  to  keep  up  the  reputation 
of  your  countrymen  you  must  do  your  part.  Hotels 
at  Baden  Baden  outbloom  those  of  Homburg  for 
luxuriance,  and  there  is  no  anti-semlte  feeling  against 
residents  of  St.  Louis,  Frankfort,  Vienna  or  the 
West  End  of  London.  It  is  very  cosmopolitan,  but 
the  complexion  Is  manifestly  American.  Beside  the 
luxurious  hotels  of  Baden  Baden  there  are  many 
villas  which  are  rented  for  short  periods,  and  with 
the  culmination  of  "high-life"  at  the  International 
Horse  Racing  Game  in  August,  one  of  the  most 
buoyant  and  rapid  scenarios  of  American  life  abroad 
is  here  annually  unrolled.  For  baths  the  most  fa- 
mous are  the  Freiderich's  Bad  and  the  KaiserIn 
Auguste  Bad,  the  former  for  men,  and  the  latter 
for  women,  as  their  names  will  indicate  to  any  one 
who  gives  them  half  a  thought. 

Wiesbaden  is  the  really  popular  German  spa,  In  the 


394      THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

eyes  of  the  German  at  any  rate,  and  he  ought  to  know. 
Outsiders  though  are  not  noticeable  by  their  absence, 
quite  the  contrary.  The  place  has  been  called  the 
Newport  of  Germany,  but  by  what  reasoning  it  is 
difficult  to  see.  It  is  certainly  chic  in  all  its  aspects, 
is  modern,  well-kept  and  does  actually  rank  as  the 
most  frequented  of  all  German  spas,  but  not  as  much 
by  Americans  and  English  as  it  will  be  some  day 
when  it  comes  to  be  appreciated.  It  is  a  resort 
and  a  residence  city  in  one.  Its  dead  season  is 
mid-summer,  but  spring  and  autumn  sees  it  as 
crowded  as  Baden  Baden  in  August;  as  a  matter 
of  fact,  the  climate  is  the  finest  all-the-year-round 
climate  of  any  resort  of  its  class  in  Germany  or  out 
of  it. 

Palatial  homes,  large,  roomy  and  architecturally 
imposing;  innumerable  and  wonderful  hotels,  and  a 
Kursaale  with  what  is  accounted  one  of  the  finest  of 
German  orchestras,  as  well  as  an  opera  troupe  which 
ranks  almost  as  high,  gives  Wiesbaden  a  cachet  and 
a  more  distinctive  flavour  of  things  and  institutions 
German  than  many  of  the  more  popular  resorts.  The 
new  Kurhaus  cost  a  million  dollars  or  more,  which 
shows  the  liberal  hand  that  is  planning  for  Wies- 
baden's future. 

The  waters  here  present  themselves  in  a  couple 
of  score  of  hot  springs  bubbling  up  all  over  the  place 
as  through  a  sieve.  They  attack  rheumatism  and 
sciatica  In  all  their  forms  with  a  vigour  known  of  no 
other  European  waters.  The  Goldenen  Ross  and 
the  Schiitzenhof  springs  possess  radio-activities.     So- 


SOME  GERMAN  SPAS 


395 


ciety  at  Wiesbaden  is  as  varied  as  mixed  pickles — 
one  should  progress  slowly. 

Nauheim  is  an  overgrown,  expanded  village  with 
great  avenues  and  tree-bordered  public  squares. 
Shops  of  a  certain  fascinating  aspect  line  one  of 
these  broad  thoroughfares  of  the  "  new  town,"  inter- 
spersed with  hotels  and  villas  which  contrast  in  a 


story-telling  manner  with  the  old-time  German  archi- 
tectural forms,  which,  in  the  "  old  town,"  present  a 
calm  and  tranquil  aspect  of  picturesqueness  that  mod- 
ernity knows  not  of. 

Thousands  come  to  Bad  Nauheim  for  heart 
troubles  which  nowhere  else  can  be  treated  so  well 
as  here.     It  is  not  so  much  a  question  of  the  waters 


396      THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

as  the  Installation  and  conveniences  which  exist  here 
that  makes  the  Bad  the  preferred  haven  for  those 
looking  towards  a  restoration  to  health.  A  sort  of 
stimulating  prickling  or  bubbling  of  the  waters  en- 
courages the  heart  to  take  up  Its  normal  functions 
or  continue  them  with  regularity,  and  once  In  the 
able  hands  of  the  Herr  Doctor  and  the  Herr  Pro- 
fessors of  Nauheim  almost  anything  but  an  actually 
broken  heart  may  be  mended.  Neurasthenic  patients, 
too,  find  Bad  Nauheim  beneficial,  and  popularity  In 
a  mild  way  and  of  a  most  serious  kind  has  descended 
upon  It  to  a  far  greater  degree  than  was  thought 
likely  when  Its  first  salt  baths  were  opened  In  1850, 
though  we  have  to  go  back  to  the  year  1255  for  Its 
first  historical  mention. 

There  have  been  those  looking  for  a  gayer  life 
who  have  reviled  Nauheim  as  desperately  monoton- 
ous and  uninteresting,  but  it  has  its  virtues  as  has 
been  shown. 

Twenty  marks  are  levied  on  the  visitor,  whether 
for  health  or  for  pleasure,  for  the  care  of  the  garden 
walks  and  the  roads  of  the  park,  whatever  may  be 
the  length  of  sojourn,  and  each  peach  or  pear  or 
picture  postcard  that  is  purchased  pays  its  quota  of 
tax  as  well. 

The  cost  of  baths  varies  from  a  couple  of  marks 
to  six  or  eight,  which,  with  extras,  such  as  towels, 
drinking  water,  weighing  machine  privileges,  etc., 
demonstrates  that  the  procedure  is  not  a  cheap  one. 

A  dozen  of  these  resorts  centre  around  Frankfort, 
which  is  a  sort  of  open  door  to  all  the  region,  and 


SOME  GERMAN  SPAS  397 

which  as  a  clearing  house  presents  a  cosmopolitan 
animation  unknown  elsewhere  in  Europe.  The  mer- 
chants of  Frankfort  cater  to  all  classes  of  strangers; 
you  may  buy  your  favourite  snap-on  buttons  and 
hooks  and  eyes  made  in  Philadelphia,  tooth  powder 
from  St.  Louis,  and  the  genuine  American  shoe,  be 
it  for  men  or  women,  though  the  German  manufactu- 
rer does  make  an  imitation  of  It  for  his  countrymen 
and  any  others  who  will  buy.  Frankfort  is  mani- 
festly commercial,  financial  if  you  will,  but  it  lends 
also  the  aspect  of  the  resort  in  its  leafy  avenues, 
squares  and  boulevards,  and,  above  all,  in  its  en- 
vironment, whose  landscape  is  not  spoiled  by  belching 
factory  chimneys  as  in  the  Rhenish  provinces. 

At  Ems  the  local  colour  changes,  things  are  more 
workaday  in  their  purport,  but  its  slimy,  unpleasant 
tasting  waters  work  the  wonders  with  diseases  of  the 
throat  that  only  the  imbibing  of  alkaline-muriatic 
water  will,  and  Ems  is  the  only  spa  of  its  kind  in 
Germany.  You  inhale  as  well  as  drink  at  Ems,  and 
whilst  the  procedure  is  not  wholly  agreeable  it  brings 
results,  and  that  is  what  the  practical  man,  or  woman, 
of  to-day  wants.  If  It  Is  desired  to  mingle  worldly 
divertisement  with  one's  cure.  Ems  falls  off  sadly,  but 
there  Is  always  music,  and  the  theatre  after  nightfall, 
which  is  better  than  bridge  or  dancing. 

Another  treatment  at  Ems  Is  that  of  compressed 
air.  You  might  as  well  be  in  the  grasp  of  the  **  Iron 
maiden  '*  herself  so  far  as  the  sensation  goes  after 
you  have  been  half  an  hour  In  an  air-tight  steel 
tank  with  a  motive  force  of  som^  kind,  which  may 


398      THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

be  steam,  electricity  or  gasolene,  pumping  In  air  until 
the  pressure  Is  so  great  It  would  seemingly  crush  an 
egg-shell  if  not  indeed  your  ear-drums;  actually  they 
stop  short  of  this,  but  you  experience  the  same  sensa- 
tions that  a  mountain  climber  has  at  an  elevation  of 
ten  thousand  or  more  feet,  and  a  pussy  cat  with  her 
tiny  lungs  would  probably  die  In  half  an  hour.  It 
must  be  a  curious  sensation  indeed  to  be  shut  up, 
fully  clothed,  with  books,  papers  and  dominoes  and 
chess  at  hand.  In  a  steel-bound  vault,  awaiting  an  air 
pressure  so  great  that  life  may  suddenly  leave  you. 

The  situation  of  the  spa  by  the  banks  of  the  turbu- 
lent little  river  Ems  is  not  exactly  Idyllic,  but  it  will 
do,  and  for  a  fact  is  a  happy  blend  of  much  that 
goes  to  make  up  a  conveniently  situated  resort,  but  a 
very  business-like  one.  It  Is  a  sort  of  concentrated 
civilisation  set  down  In  the  midst  of  a  park. 

And  now  for  a  bit  of  history.  A  stone  slab  flush 
with  the  ground  in  the  public  square  at  Ems  reads  as 
follows : 


13  Juli  1870 — 9  Uhr  10  Min. 
Morgens 


How  precise  these  Germans  are  I  Freely  translated 
it  means  that  a  certain,  now  historic,  personage 
turned  his  back  on  another,  now  historic,  personage, 
over  the  discussion  of  a  subject  which  should  have 
meant  nothing  to  either  of  them.  One  was  German, 
the  other  French,  and  the  Franco-Prussian  war  re- 
sulted. This  is  how  Germany  makes  a  note  which 
all  who  run  may  read.     The  Emperor  William — the 


SOME  GERMAN  SPAS  399 

Great  William — was  fond  of  Ems,  and  It  was  here 
that  was  unrolled  the  first  act  of  the  drama  which 
the  plotter  Bismarck  so  deftly  engineered.  There 
is  also  a  monument  to  the  Emperor  at  Ems — of 
course;  another  to  the  slain  In  battle,  and  yet  another 
to  Bismarck.     Lest  you  forget ! 

The  municipality  of  Ems  is  highly  organised,  the 
spa,  commerce  in  general,  the  hotel  Industry  in  par- 
ticular, all  benefit  from  a  sane,  astute  oversight  by 
the  city  fathers.  Thirty  thousand  or  more  visitors 
come  to  Ems  each  year  and  together  they  must  spend 
a  couple  of  million  dollars  all  told.  It  pays  a  muni- 
cipality to  cultivate  a  wave  of  prosperity  like  this, 
which  otherwise  might  flow  by  its  doors.  But  after 
all  Ems  Is  not  very  worldly, 

Neunahr  and  Carlsbad  treat  diabetes,  but  If  with 
heart  complications,  Neunahr,  with  the  only  alkaline 
hot  spring  in  Germany,  comes  first,  whose  waters  are 
sovereign  also  for  cirrhosis,  which.  If  vulgarly  trans- 
lated from  the  German  manner  of  naming  It,  is 
rather  inelegantly  to  be  called  also  '*  drunkard's 
liver."  Neunahr  is  not  greatly  the  vogue,  but  it  Is 
exclusive  and  has  most  luxurious  appointments  In  all 
things  that  relate  to  the  amusement  and  comfort  of 
Invalids  who  have  not  as  yet  approached  the  stage 
of  incapacity  of  enjoyment  or  indifference  to  sur- 
roundings. 

To  Americans  and  English,  Neunahr  ought  to 
mean  much,  or  suggest  much,  for  it  is  here  that  is 
located  the  famous  Apollinaris  Spring  which  made  a 
publisher,  an  artist  and  an  author  famous  and  wealthy. 


400      THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

As  a  money-making  enterprise  of  the  first  rank  a 
popular  bottled  water  Is  undoubtedly  ahead  of  the 
writing  or  publishing  of  books,  or  the  painting  of 
pictures.  Bubbling  naturally  from  the  ground,  water, 
whatever  its  chemical  constituents  may  be,  costs  but 
little  in  the  first  Instance,  and  relatively  but  little  more 
to  put  in  bottle — the  buyer  pays  the  freight.  Seven 
hundred  employees  do  the  work,  and  in  a  twelve- 
month 32,000,000  bottles  of  "  polly  '*  are  shipped  to 
all  the  ports  of  the  seven  seas;  several  bottles  are 
drunk  every  minute,  in  one  place  or  another,  from 
January  ist  to  December  31st.  Its  a  good  deal  bet- 
ter than  a  coal  or  a  gold  mine,  for  it  comes  to  the 
surface  through  the  impulse  of  nature's  own  forces. 
You  don't  have  to  hire  Italians  or  Slovaks  to  mine  it. 

Kreuznach  possesses  wonderful  waters,  and  Is 
quaint  and  picturesque  on  Its  own  account.  The 
waters,  or  the  mud,  here  cures  rheumatism  and  pos- 
sesses a  radio-activity  strong  enough  to  be  impressed 
upon  sensitive  photographic  plates  and  paper.  It  is 
small  wonder  that  such  slime  should  have  some  effect 
on  the  epidermis.  This  spring  and  another  in  Bo- 
hemia are  almost  the  only  commercially  exploited 
sources  for  the  supply  of  radium. 

At  Munster-am-Stem,  a  few  miles  from  Kreuznach, 
is  another  spring  of  a  similar  nature.  Near  Frank- 
fort, too,  is  Soden,  with  warm  springs  whose  waters 
are  impregnated  with  salt,  iron  and  carbonic  acid 
gas,  which  are  beneficial  in  bronchial  affections  and 
pulmonary  diseases. 

For  the  automoblllst  this  comparatively  restricted 


SOME  GERMAN  SPAS  401 

area,  where  are  located  the  most  famous  of  the 
German  spas,  is  a  paradise.  Seldom  is  there  to  be 
found  a  continuity  of  such  park-like  roads  as  those 
following  the  sinuosities  of  the  Rhine,  the  Ems  and 
the  Lahn. 

Schwalbach  or  Langenschwalbach,  to  give  it  its  full 
name,  is  celebrated  afar  as  a  resort,  but  its  chief 
value  to  the  economic  universe  lies  in  its  value  as  a 
bathing  place  for  the  ills  that  women^s  flesh  is  heir 
to.  Charged  to  profusion  with  free  carbonic  a 
plunge  in  these  waters  is  like  the  famous  bath  in 
champagne  of  which  the  yellow  journals  told  a  few 
years  since,  but  one  is  less  sticky  on  coming  out. 
It's  an  experience,  if  you  happen  to  need  that  sort  of 
treatment,  and  if  ever  such  was  efficacious,  it  must 
be  so  here.  The  place  is  gay,  cosmopolitan  and 
crowded.  The  springs,  the  Weinbrunnen  and  the 
Stahlbrunnen,  are  half  a  mile  or  more  apart  in  the 
Kurhaus  gardens.  These  are  the  springs  whose 
waters  are  used  internally;  the  others  are  for  bathing 
only.  Males  are  notable  by  their  absence ;  a  few  may 
be  seen  at  the  Herzog  von  Nassau,  the  Allesaal  or 
the  Villa  Gartenlaube,  but  smoking  is  verboten  at 
the  springs  and  in  the  gardens  where  the  band  plays, 
so  poor  man  is  perforce  obliged  to  give  this  delight- 
ful Bad  of  the  Taunus  the  go-by.  It  is  an  Adamless 
Eden,  if  indeed  there  can  be  such  a  thing.  What  few 
men  are  to  be  seen,  usually  hie  themselves  off  to  the 
trout  fishing  at  sunrise  to  return  only  to  the  hotels 
for  supper. 

Schlangenbad,  which  is  ugly  enough  in  name  and 


402      THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

meaning  (Snake  Bath),  has  a  water  which  in  con- 
sistency is  midway  between  aqua  pura  and  a  good 
stiff  pea  soup.  There  are  from  seventy  to  eighty 
per  cent  of  non-mixing  elements  therein,  and  it  is 
good  for  countless  complaints,  of  which  the  doctors 


will  tell  you  when  you  ask  them,  but  which  will  bum 
your  hair  to  the  colour  of  reddish  tow  in  a  very  short 
space  of  time.  The  town  is  delightfully  sylvan  on 
the  banks  of  the  little  river  Waldaffa,  a  tributary  of 
the  Rhine. 

Throughout  the  Black  Forest  are  innumerable  of 
these  Wild  Baeder.     Not  far  from  Baden  Baden  is 


SOME  GERMAN  SPAS  403 

one  which  bears  the  name  of  Wildbad  Itself.  Its 
springs  bubble  forth  a  hot  alkaline  water,  and  the 
tiny  town  Is  a  forest  village  In  fact  as  well  as  name. 
Herrenalb  nearby  Is  called  the  paradise  of  the 
Schwartzwald,  and  Is  chiefly  famous  as  an  "  after 
cure.''  Towards  the  Alps,  along  the  southern  bor- 
der of  the  forest  range,  off  toward  Switzerland,  Is 
Badenweller,  whose  popularity  and  efficacy  In  pul- 
monary and  nervous  diseases  was  known  to  the  Ro- 
mans, who  established  the  first  baths  here  a  dozen 
centuries  ago.  To-day  the  bathing  establishment  is 
built  upon  Roman  lines. 

Marlenbad  Is  a  kingly  resort ;  it  was  popular  with 
the  late  King  Edward,  and  the  Emperor  knows  the 
Hotel  Weimar  here  as  well  as  the  Kaiser  does  Herr 
Krupp's  little  chalet  at  Kiel.  King's  weather  is 
usually  the  rule  at  Marlenbad,  and  Its  summer  climate 
and  temperature  Is  certainly  all  that  could  be  desired. 

Folk  do  all  the  things  that  they  are  supposed  to 
do  at  a  spa ;  Bohemia  is  not  different  from  Germany 
in  this  respect.  The  manifest  complexion  of  all 
things  is  Austrian,  but  the  Bohemians  would  have 
you  know  that  it  is  Bohemian  and  nothing  else. 
Lunch  at  the  Rubezahl  restaurant  is  quite  the  thing, 
as  also  is  an  afternoon  assistance  at  the  concert  on 
the  terrace,  seated  in  a  stuffy  wicker  mushroom  chair 
lined  with  Turkey  red  calico,  which  is  all  right  for 
the  beach  at  Scheveningen,  but  manifestly  quite  In- 
appropriate here.  Some  unthinking  person  started 
the  custom  and  it  grew.  There's  another  establish- 
ment called  the  Cafe  Nimrod,  which  is  a  favourite 


404      THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

resort  of  the  Tzar  of  the  Bulgares,  and  you  are  quite 
as  likely  to  dine  at  the  table  opposite,  as  you  are  to 
meet  Alphonse  of  Spain  on  the  terrace  at  tea  time  at 
San  Sebastian. 

Marienbad  is  two  thousand  feet  above  sea  level, 
amid  a  forest  framing  which  makes  its  worldliness 
delightful,  for  it  is  worldly,  as  worldly  as  any  of 
the  real  European  resorts,  and  has  many  big  hotels 
with  their  satellite  attractions,  restaurants,  casinos, 
music,  theatre,  opera  and  what  not.  Marienbad 
claims  for  its  waters  that  they  will  make  fat  people 
thin  and  thin  folk  fat.  Marienbad  is  a  place  of 
miracles  apparently,  though  that  claim  has  not  yet 
been  put  forth. 

The  place  has  a  milk  cure  too,  and  is  the  home  of 
a  local  sweetmeat  which  if  partaken  ad  lib  will  annul 
any  beneficial  effects  which  may  have  been  derived 
from  the  cure.  The  latter  are  cakes,  or  tartines,  or 
gaufrettes,  or  something  of  the  sort,  heaped  up  with 
whipped  cream,  which  half  bury  a  half-dozen  round, 
luscious  cherries,  the  whole  drowned  in  what  tastes, 
and  looks,  like  thinned-out  honey,  but  which  may  be 
mere  treacle.  The  diet  will  probably  not  make  one 
thin,  but  it's  pretty  sure  to  put  on  fat. 

Carlsbad  and  Marienbad  are  the  vogue;  not  that 
they  compel  one  to  stay  on  and  on  as  do  many  other 
Continental  spas,  but  that  they  are  included  in  every- 
body's little  tour  of  watering-places,  or  should  be. 
The  season  at  Carlsbad  spins  out  to  a  greater  length 
than  formerly  and  now  its  visitors,  augmenting  in 
numbers  by  thousands  each  year,  can  scarcely  find  a 


SOME  GERMAN  SPAS  405 

room  in  any  of  the  big  hotels  from  June  to  Septem- 
ber, unless  booked  in  advance.  Stomachic  and  in- 
testinal diseases  account  for  the  coming  thither  of 
some  of  the  seventy  odd  thousand  visitors  each  year, 
but  the  far  larger  numbers  are  here  because  it  is  the 
vogue ;  it  sounds  well  when  you  get  home  to  say  that 
Carlsbad  was  included  in  your  itinerary,  and  unless 
your  stomach  is  actually  a  superior  organ  to  that  of 
most  mortals,  Carlsbad's  sodium-sulphate,  alkaline 
and  carbonic  waters  will  do  you  good  if  you  don't 
object  to  the  taste. 

Pupp's  Hotel  is  world  famous  and  its  clientele 
cosmopolitan.  Ferdinand  of  Bulgaria,  two  brothers 
of  the  Shah  of  Persia,  the  Persian  ambassador  at 
Vienna,  Prince  Orlaff,  Prince  Victor  Dhulep  Singh 
and  the  Duke  of  Teck  all  paraded  before  our  eyes 
on  one  occasion  on  the  terrace  of  this  celebrated  hotel 

The  cure,  sylvan  walks  abroad,  golf  and  the  usual 
social  functions  of  hotel  drawing-rooms  and  casinos 
put  Carlsbad  in  the  very  front  rank  of  resorts  of  its 
class. 

Every  visitor  pays  eight  crowns  as  a  kurtax,  but 
it  is  paid  willingly  for  the  advantages  given  and  the 
privilege  of  tarrying  a  while  in  such  a  well-ordered 
resort.  This  pays  for  the  public  amusements,  bands, 
illuminations,  etc.  Why  not?  Who  should  ob- 
ject? 

Bad  Gastein,  like  the  Bohemia  spas,  is  fashion- 
able, popular  and  costly.  As  late  as  October  the 
Hotel  Straubinger  may  be  crowded,  and  the  day  may 
yet  come  when  the  place  will  bloom  forth  as  a  winter 


4o6      THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

resort.  It  is  a  tiny  village  perched  at  an  elevation 
of  three  thousand  ^ve  hundred  feet  above  the  sea, 
admirably  sheltered  from  the  north  and  not  subject 
to  winds  in  winter,  and  furthermore  its  January  and 
February  climate  is  proclaimed  as  something  astound- 
ingly  mild. 

Bad  Gastein's  springs  are  hot,  bubbling  cauldrons, 
and  are  supposed  to  quiet  the  nerves,  and  do. 

Everywhere  are  signs  of  expansion  and  progress, 
and  the  labour  is  seemingly  all  Italian.  There  is  no 
class  of  house-builder  living  to-day  that  is  better  at 
stucco  than  the  Italians;  they  alone  seem  to  know 
how  to  build  such  houses  so  as  to  stand  the  ravages 
of  time  and  rigorous  winters,  and  actually  at  this 
moment  Bad  Gastein  is  being  enlarged,  rebuilt  and 
remodelled  by  trans-Alpins. 

One  objection  there  is  to  a  stay  at  Bad  Gastein, 
and  that  is  the  noise  interminable  made  by  the  rush- 
ing waters  of  many  waterfalls.  Usually  such  phe- 
nomena of  nature  fall  silently,  many  even  fade  away 
in  a  mist,  but  here  they  are  seemingly  more  turbulent 
than  Niagara. 


•i?.?V>^j»>«'-'" 


ARTIST  A  PRIVILEGED  CHARACTER 

DOLLAR  A  DAY  RATE 

FIG  TREE  OF  MARTIGUES 

PAINTER  AND  TOURIST 

CLASSES 

SKETCHING-GROUNDS  IN   FRANCE 

painters'  haunts  about  PARIS 

fontainebleau  and  barbizon 
along  the  valley  of  the  loing 
daubigny's  country 
"  type  "  from  the  latin  quarter 
bohemian  picture-making 
costume  models  of  brittany 
pont  aven  and  "  julians  " 
among  the  windings  of  the  seine 
hotel  bellevue,  petit  andelys 
in  mid-france 
provencal  school  of  art 
painting  in  spain 

SOROLLA's   OPEN-AIR   STUDIO 
MEDITERRANEAN  SKETCHING-GROUNDS 


XVII 

ARTISTS'  SKETCHING-,GROUNDS 
ABROAD 

Those  who  travel  with  a  paint-box  and  a  white 
umbrella  slung  over  their  shoulders  are  a  privileged 
class  in  Europe,  and  not  the  least  of  the  concessions 
which  are  tacitly  bestowed  upon  them  is  the  right  to 
pre-empt  certain  little  corners  and  stake  them  out  as 
their  own,  with  the  understanding  that  they  have  the 
first  claim  to  the  beauties  by  right  of  discovery  and 
appropriation  of  these  charms  to  the  domain  of  the 
Republic  of  Art  with  a  capital  A. 

The  original  inhabitants  are  usually  proud  of  the 
distinction,  and  encourage  the  artist  in  his  proprietary 
attitude  towards  their  country,  thus  forming  together 
what  might  be  called  an  artistic  co-operative  society, 
though  this  tends  sometimes  to  place  the  plain,  every- 
day tourist  somewhat  at  a  disadvantage. 

Let  one  come  with  a  painting  outfit,  no  matter 
from  what  land,  or  of  what  school  of  art  they  may 
be  the  followers,  whether  they  set  their  palettes  up- 
side down, — as  do  those  latest  radicals,  the  Post  Im- 
pressionists,— draw  everything  on  curves,  give  a 
porcelain  finish  to  the  interpretations  of  nature,  run 
to  a  riot  of  colour,  or  paint  everything  in  a  scale  of 
grey,  she,  or  he,  will  be  welcomed  with  a  camaraderie 
and  a  genuine  warmth,  while  the  artistic  possibilities 

409 


4IO      THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

of  the  neighbourhood  will  be  mapped  out  ungrudg- 
ingly. It  is  this  which  makes  for  the  appeal  of  these 
artists'  sketching-grounds  scattered  about  Europe, 
though  they  are  in  danger  of  being  spoiled  by  the 
laymen,  who  often  come  here  to  loaf,  because  of 


the  sympathetic  qualities  so  different  from  those  of  a 
banal  existence  in  a  community  whose  occupations  are 
of  a  purely  social  nature. 

There  is  no  better  way  to  travel  cheaply  than  to 
carry  a  paint-box.  The  white  umbrella  is  a  passport 
that  calls  for  moderate  charges,  and  the  artist  can 


ARTISTS'  SKETCHING-GROUNDS  ABROAD    411 

usually  get  into  a  hotel  for  five  francs,  while  the 
casual  traveller  often  pays  double.  Is  this  undue 
discrimination?  No;  it  is  but  a  rightful  tribute  to 
the  profession.  The  word  "  artist  "  does  not  always 
say  genius.  Modesty  forbids,  for  it  is  true  that  the 
more  readily  an  artist  can  sling  paint  with  ability, 
the  more  unassuming  he  usually  is.  No,  the  con- 
sideration Is  demanded  in  the  interests  of  Art  and  a 
slim  purse,  and  usually  it  is  granted  without  ques- 
tion. Does  he,  or  she,  establish  a  scale  of  conduct 
based  on  the  cut  rate  of  five  francs?  No,  indeed; 
the  best  that  is  to  be  had  Is  demanded,  and  no  one  is 
disappointed.  The  landlord  may  snap  his  fingers  and 
mutter  '^  sapristi  ^'  under  his  breath,  but  he  will  give 
in  to  the  privileged  class  sooner  or  later  and  be  glad 
of  the  opportunity  of  doing  so. 

As  an  illustration  of  local  pride  and  artistic  priv- 
ilege, the  following  will  bear  quoting: 

One  summer  from  fifty  to  a  hundred  artist  folk 
were  sketching  in  a  little  Mediterranean  fishing  port 
— Martlgues — in  sunny  Provence.  It  is  one  of  those 
artists'  sketching-grounds  of  which  those  Americans 
engaged  in  the  serious  business  of  touring  have  never 
heard,  but  to  which  the  artists  flock  from  all  over 
Europe — French,  Belgian,  Austrian,  Russian,  all  the 
cosmopolitan  brotherhood.  The  Grand  Hotel  Cha- 
bas  is  the  artists'  headquarters  in  La  Venise  Pro- 
vengale. 

Martlgues  was  originally  brought  Into  fashion  by 
one  of  the  greatest  of  modern  colourlsts — Zlem — and 
its  vogue  has  since  become  great. 


412      THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

Here  these  artist  men  and  women  were  busy  put- 
ting on  to  canvas  the  picturesque  life  of  the  canals, 
the  lateen-sailed  Mediterranean  fishing  boats  and  the 
fisher  people  at  work  among  their  nets.  These  fisher 
folk  of  Martlgues  have  become  Inflated  with  pride 
at  the  distinction  that  Art  has  conferred  upon  them. 
Have  not  pictures  of  themselves,  their  boats  and  their 
houses  decorated  each  year  the  walls  of  nearly  every 
art  exhibition  in  the  world?  They  take  as  much 
pride  in  keeping  up  their  end  of  the  artistic  standard 
as  the  artists  themselves;  they  see  to  it  that  the 
mellow  tints  of  their  houses  and  boats  are  not  dis- 
turbed by  fresh  coats  of  paint,  and  have  learned  to 
pose  at  their  work  in  the  manner  most  approved  by 
the  artists. 

There  was  one  classic  motive  at  Martlgues  which 
every  one  painted,  one  of  those  perfectly  composed 
subjects,  forming  the  keynote  to  one  of  the  most 
picturesque  corners  of  the  town.  It  was  a  fig-tree 
that  had  sprung  up  from  a  crevice  in  the  foundations 
of  an  old  stone  house  overhanging  one  of  the  principal 
canals.  One  morning,  to  the  consternation  of  the 
group  of  artists  painting  the  "  fig-tree  house,"  as  It 
was  called,  a  crash  was  heard  and  down  fell  the  tree 
into  the  water.  It  was  learned  that  the  house  had 
been  rented  to  a  stranger,  who,  finding  that  the  tree 
completely  darkened  the  north  side  of  the  house,  not 
unreasonably  had  it  cut  down.  Townspeople  and 
artists  were  alike  horrified  at  the  sacrilege. 

The  artists  hurried  to  the  principal  cafe  to  hold 
an  indignation  meeting  and  threatened  to  leave  town 


ARTISTS'  SKETCHING-GROUNDS  ABROAD    413 

in  a  body.  Such  a  slight  could  not  be  put  upon  the 
municipality.  The  mayor  could  not  put  the  tree 
back,  but  he  would  wait  upon  the  unfortunate  new- 
comer. The  result  was  that  an  apologetic  statement 
was  published  in  the  local  paper  to  the  effect  that 
the  stranger  did  not  realise  how  much  of  an  artistic 
asset  the  fig-tree  really  was,  and  that  it  would  be 
permitted  to  grow  again  as  speedily  as  the  laws  of 
nature  would  allow. 

The  artist  is  the  last  lineal  descendant  of  the  gen- 
tleman vagabond  of  old.  He  is  almost  the  sole  sur- 
vivor of  an  uncommercial  guild  of  workman.  He 
goes  on  his  summer  outing  with  rolls  of  canvas  in- 
stead of  a  dress  suit,  and  with  "  stretchers  "  in  place 
of  boot-trees.  He  looks  upon  the  automobile  as  his 
greatest  curse,  principally  because  it  has  been  the 
means  of  bringing  the  ordinary  tourist  in  droves  to 
spy  upon  the  beauties  of  many  of  his  own  particular 
painting  grounds,  and  has  been  known  even  to  refuse 
to  sell  a  picture  to  the  owner  of  one  of  these  beasts 
of  a  machine,  though  he  is  not  averse  to  riding  in 
one  when  asked.  Baedecker  tourists  the  artist  re- 
gards as  his  natural  enemies,  for  are  they  not  directly 
responsible  for  the  advance  in  prices  at  the  little  inn 
which  had  for  so  long  been  content  with  his  modest 
patronage?  With  every  fresh  batch  of  tourists  that 
comes  along  he  threatens  to  leave  and  look  for  an 
unspoiled  location,  though  as  a  matter  of  fact  he 
comes  back  year  after  year. 

The  same  little  coterie  of  painters  is  usually  to  be 
found  gathered  together  in  some  quaint  inn  on  the 


414      THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

bank  of  some  Dutch  canal,  by  the  olive  and  orange 
groves  of  the  Mediterranean,  in  some  barbarian  moun- 
tain hamlet,  or  in  some  little  Norman  townlet  in  the 
valley  of  the  Seine.  Each  year  they  discuss  the  same 
old  theories  with  the  same  enthusiasm,  and  so  it  goes 
on  from  year  to  year,  and  will  go  on  in  spite  of 
the  comings  and  goings  of  the  world  that  travels. 

The  suffragette  would  find  these  artist  communi- 
ties match  up  very  nearly  with  her  ideals  of  equality. 
The  woman  painter,  if  she  is  serious,  if  her  work  is 
worthy,  is  welcomed.  Her  status  in  the  little  com- 
munity is  fixed,  and  she  enjoys  goodfellowship,  both 
in  work  and  play,  to  the  utmost. 

To  these  sketching-grounds,  too,  come  that  bete 
noire  of  the  serious-minded  artist,  the  class  of  ama- 
teurs herded  together  under  the  supposed  artistic 
guidance  of  some  commercially  minded  mditre. 

Usually  these  classes  are  composed  of  women,  sen- 
timental aspirants,  willing  enough  to  follow  some 
leader,  but  too  timid  to  strike  out  boldly  for  them- 
selves, either  in  art  or  travel.  In  this  way  they  are 
able  to  enjoy  a  little  of  both,  but  invariably  mixed 
in  homeopathic  proportions.  For  a  stipulated  sum, 
which  usually  includes  their  tuition  and  living  ex- 
penses, they  can  paint  under  the  eye  of  their  teacher, 
for  the  term  for  which  they  have  enlisted.  It  may 
be  that  for  a  certain  sum  they  are  allowed  to  study 
methods  in  the  shadow  of  some  master's  easel,  whilst 
their  "  keep  "  is  a  thing  apart.  Such  classes  may  be 
composed  of  students  of  both  sexes,  but  It  is  the  un- 
attached woman,  with  a  taste  rather  than  a  talent 


ARTISTS'  SKETCHING-GROUNDS  ABROAD    415 

for  painting,  who  forms  the  bulk  of  such  followers, 
and  water-colour  is  the  medium  In  which  she  mostly 
sins. 

These  international  artist  sketching-grounds  are 
most  numerous  and  most  popular  in  France.  This 
is  but  natural  in  a  land  which  has  given  expression 
to  the  best  of  the  painter's  genius,  and  is  responsible 
for  the  highest  development  of  the  ''  plein  air  '* 
school  of  painting.  Here  art  is  officially  recognised, 
is  practically  encouraged  by  the  State,  which  yearly 
devotes  a  certain  sum  of  the  public  funds  for  the 
purchase  of  pictures  Independent  of  the  artist's  na- 
tionality. The  Nation  even  has  its  MInistere  des 
Beaux  Arts,  who  is  a  member  of  the  Supreme  Council 
of  State,  the  Cabinet.  No  wonder  artists  possess 
the  land,  or  at  any  rate  some  of  its  choicest  spots, 
and  that  the  stranger  can  wander  about  with  a  paint- 
ing kit  and  find  always  that  truly  warmest  welcome 
at  an  Inn. 

As  soon  as  the  Paris  salons  are  closed  the  last 
of  June,  and  the  artists  have  recovered  from  the 
verdicts  of  success  or  failure  which  have  been  doled 
out  to  them,  the  studios  of  Montmartre  and  Mont- 
parnasse  empty  themselves  out  Into  the  favoured 
haunts  of  the  countryside. 

There  are  dozens  of  these  about  Paris,  not  too  ex- 
pensive to  reach  or  too  expensive  at  which  to  stay. 
This  makes  for  the  popularity  of  the  nearby  places. 

Fontainebleau,  with  Barbizon  as  a  centre,  might 
be  called  the  master  school  of  modern  outdoor  paint- 
ing,  though  Barbizon  to-day  is  more  of  a   cheap 


4i6     THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

trippers'  resort  than  anything  else ;  not  even  the  sacred 
association  of  the  great  Barbizon  quartette  of  painters 
can  draw  the  artist  now,  in  the  height  of  the  tourist 
season.  Instead  he  goes  to  one  of  a  chain  of  little 
towns  that  skirt  the  southern  border  of  the  forest 
or  the  valley  of  the  Loing,  that  has  a  summer 
clientele  of  artists,  picturesque,  old-time  villages,  un- 
touched by  the  near  influence  of  Paris  or  the  holiday- 
makers  who  haunt  the  forest  proper. 

If  old-time  Barbizon,  with  its  memories  of  Millet, 
Corot  and  Rousseau,  is  no  longer  the  fashion,  it  is 
but  a  step  across  the  forest  to  Moret,  the  centre  of 
the  present-day  cult.  Here  Moret's  ancient  bridge, 
its  water-mills,  its  town  gates  and  walls  and  Gothic 
church — first  made  famous  on  canvas  by  Sisley — 
form  a  galaxy  of  motifs  irresistible. 

Montigny,  on  the  southern  border,  is  one  of  the 
best  of  the  forest  gateways,  and  Bourron,  with  its 
quaint  little  Hotel  de  la  Paix,  is  a  great  relief  after 
more  populous  neighbourhoods. 

At  Marlotte  nearby  a  number  of  artists  have 
built  homes,  and  domesticity  and  art  flourish  together 
in  many  a  picturesque  little  villa  in  this  happy  Valley 
of  the  Loing. 

Then  there  Is  Nemours,  a  bustling  market  town, 
and  Larchant,  with  a  ruined  church  sitting  on  a  hill- 
top surrounded  by  lonesome  pines.  Not  far  away 
Is  the  popular  Grez  and  Crecy-en-Brle — where  the 
cheese  comes  from.  At  all  of  these  the  artist,  If  she 
works  it  right,  may  be  taken  in  at  almost  any  small 
hotel  for  npt  more  than  five  francs  a  day.. 


(U 


> 

PQ 


X 


ARTISTS'  SKETCHING-GROUNDS  ABROAD    417 

Up  the  valley  of  Olse,  north  of  Paris,  Is 
Daubigny's  country,  with  Auvers  as  its  capital.  Here 
on  the  walls  of  the  Hostellerie  du  Nord  are  some  of 
the  master's  sketches  of  this  soft,  green,  pastoral 
country,  but  Paris'  Sunday  crowds  rather  ruffle  the 
equanimity  of  the  artist,  and  the  real  atmosphere  of 
the  place  is  sadly  contaminated  for  one  day  out  of 
seven. 

Just  outside  is  Ville  d'Avray,  where  one  can  paint, 
if  not  the  same  trees  that  did  Corot,  at  least  others 
that  look  the  same. 

To  one  or  another  of  these  haunts  comes  the  typi- 
cal Parisian  artist  of  the  velveteen  corduroy  suit, 
slouch  hat  and  black,  floating  tie.  He  settles  down 
for  the  summer,  bringing  not  much  else  besides  his 
painting  kit,  though  occasionally  some  "  unconven- 
tional "  will  bring  with  him  his  bon  amie,  a  little 
model,  perhaps,  who  may,  or  may  not,  at  the  same 
time  keep  studio  for  him  in  Paris.  The  life  they 
lead  will  likely  enough  be  decorous  to  view,  she  sit- 
ting beside  him  at  her  fancy  work  as  he  assumes  to 
fabricate  his  masterpieces,  and  washing  his  brushes 
for  him  at  the  end  of  day. 

It  is  this  sort  of  thing  that  is  apt  to  give  the  lone 
woman  artist  a  shock  when  she  first  drifts  in  on 
many  of  these  little  artists'  sketching-grounds,  and  it 
is  even  true,  sometimes,  that  there  are  gay  doings  in 
between  periods  of  picture  making,  when  the  bohe- 
mianism  is  apt  to  be  of  a  very  genuine  Montmartre 
quality,  or  again  it  is  the  atmosphere  of  the  Quartier 
Latin  which  is  transplanted  to  the  open  country.    On 


4iS     THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

the  other  hand,  there  are  quite  enough  of  the  other 
elements  to  preserve  propriety,  though  no  sketching- 
grounds  enjoy  such  a  cosmopolitan  freedom  as  do 
those  of  France. 

The  social  life  of  such  places  is  thus  apt  to  be  a 
little  disconcerting,  and  sometimes  composed  of 
startling  elements,  but  as  an  old  artist's  model  once 
said,  "  The  American  woman  knows  well  the  art  of 
keeping  the  disagreeable  outside  her  range  of  vision." 

The  company  one  sees  is  as  a  congress  of  all  na- 
tions. The  English  are  there,  painting  decorously 
in  company  with  their  wives,  and  there  is  the  sandy, 
canny  Scot  from  the  Glasgow  school,  and  of  course 
innumerable  Americans — whom  all  foreigners  regard 
rather  jealously  as  the  aristocrats  of  the  profession, 
chiefly  for  the  reason  that  they  usually  spend  treble 
the  sum  that  they  need  to.  There  are  representa- 
tives from  all  northern  lands;  rabid  German  Seces- 
sionists, Austrians,  Finns  and  all  the  strong  army  of 
Scandinavians.  The  one  language  which  they  have 
in  common  is  that  of  art. 

Usually  one  dines  out  of  doors  in  the  pleasant 
country  fashion  in  the  courtyard  of  the  little  artists' 
inn,  or  on  a  terrace  overlooking  a  river,  and  meal 
times  are  always  the  occasion  of  much  "  shop  talk," 
the  courses  punctuated  with  impromptu  picture  ex- 
hibitions as  canvases  representing  the  day's  work  are 
propped  up  on  chairs  and  exposed  to  the  hot  and 
merciless  criticism  of  the  party. 

What  difference  does  It  make  If  the  soup  is  cold, 
or  that  a  stray  wasp  drops  into  the  confiture?     No 


ARTISTS'  SKETCHING-GROUNDS  ABROAD    419 

one  grumbles  except  the  ostracised  tourist  who  may 
happen  along. 

Further  away  from  Paris  one  somewhat  loses  cer- 
tain objectionable  features  In  connection  with  artists* 
life  In  easy  reach  of  the  capital  of  bohemlanlsm. 
Brittany  may  be  called  the  great  "  costume  model " 
sketching-ground  of  France.  Nowhere  else  In  west- 
ern Europe  do  the  inhabitants  so  tenaciously  cling  to 
old-time  dress  and  customs  as  in  this  land  of  fetes 
and  pardons. 

Pont  Aven  takes  precedence  over  all  other  artists' 
towns  of  Brittany.  It  was  the  first  to  become  a  cen- 
tre for  a  little  band  of  Parisian  painters  who  were 
attracted  here  by  Its  unique  collection  of  water-mills 
and  pretty  girls.  This  was  long  ago,  and  the  painters 
who  first  made  Pont  Aven  famous  are  grey-headed, 
and  the  girls  perhaps  a  bit  faded,  though  others  have 
come  to  take  their  places. 

Without  "  Julia  '*  and  her  Hotel  des  Voyageurs, 
Pont  Aven  might  never  have  become  the  world-re- 
nowed  sketching-ground  that  it  Is.  "  Julia's  ''  is  still 
the  chief  gathering  place  for  artists  in  all  Brittany, 
but  her  clientele  Is  chiefly  of  the  younger  generation. 
Concarneau  is  next  door  to  Pont  Aven,  and  usually 
takes  the  second  place  in  popularity.  The  great  Bay 
of  Concarneau,  dotted  with  the  brown-sailed  sardine 
boats,  draped  In  their  blue  fishing  nets.  Is  a  veritable 
symphony  of  blue  and  brown,  and  though  the  smell 
from  the  sardine  canneries  often  drives  the  artist 
away,  it  Is  a  fact  that  the  ready-made  motifs  of  the 
little  fishing  town  are  superlative  of  their  kind.    Then 


420      THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

a  little  further  westward  is  Quimperle.  Who  has 
not  seen  the  washerwomen  of  Quimperle?  They 
figure  in  every  salon  of  every  year. 

A  few  choice  spirits  prefer  Poldhu,  also  on  the 
shore.  It  is  not  so  overcrowded,  not  to  say  amateur- 
ish, as  Pont  Aven,  and  the  pretty  fishermaids  are  not 
so  nearly  spoiled  as  those  who  have  been  longer  in 
the  profession  as  models. 

Camaret  in  Finistere,  almost  at  the  western  point 
of  France,  is  reminiscent  of  Cottet  and  his  famous 
Luxembourg  picture  of  its  brown-sailed  sardine  fish- 
ing boats.  After  comes  the  bleak,  black  C6tes-du- 
Nord,  a  mysterious  region  of  black  rocks  and  sad, 
grey  houses.  All  of  Brittany  has  that  touch  of  mel- 
ancholy about  it  that  comes  from  the  fight  with  the 
sea  and  hard  conditions  of  life  generally,  but  here  it 
is  more  pronounced  than  elsewhere. 

Not  the  least  of  Rochefort-en-Terre's  attractions 
is  its  Hotel  le  Cadre,  and  the  artist  who  strolls  along 
that  way  as  he  does  the  round  will  well  remember  the 
two  little  Breton  sisters  who  preside  over  this  neat 
and  attractive  little  hotel  of  wild  Brittany. 

On  the  north  coast  of  France,  not  far  from 
Boulogne,  is  Staples.  Its  dirty  streets  are  offset  by 
the  excellent  Hotel  Joos.  At  Etaples,  a  little  artist 
colony  has  been  formed  by  buying  up,  or  renting, 
the  fishermen's  cottages  at  nominal  prices  and  turn- 
ing them  into  studios.  Such  is  the  popularity  of  art 
that  the  native  fisher  people  importune  one  to  be  taken 
on  for  models  with  as  much  insistence  as  the  beggars 
of  Naples  appeal  to  strangers  for  money. 


ARTISTS'  SKETCHING-GROUNDS  ABROAD    421 

A  few  miles  away,  but  still  within  sight  of  the 
flashing  twin  lights  on  the  dunes  beyond  Etaples,  is 
Montreuil-sur-Mer,  where,  within  the  old  town  walls, 
at  the  sixteenth-century  Hotel  de  France,  or  outside 
the  walls  at  the  Bellevue,  you  may  live  and  be  well 
taken  care  of  whilst  painting  the  charming  gentle 
landscape  of  this  region  of  tidal  streams  and  poplar- 
lined  banks.  The  same  is  true  of  nearby  Picquigny, 
and  little  more  than  a  dollar  a  day  should  cover  the 
cost. 

There  are  some  delightful  painting  centres  hidden 
away  in  the  windings  of  the  Seine  below  Paris.  No 
one  part  of  France  has  been  so  painted  as  this  silver- 
grey,  serpentining  ribbon  of  water  edged  by  thin 
trees. 

Claude  Monet  is  the  lodestone  that  draws  artists 
to  Giverny.  The  place  is  just  a  little  village  of 
frame  and  stucco  houses,  with  a  few  other  dwellings 
a  bit  more  pretentious  sandwiched  in  here  and  there. 
The  great  modern  impressionist  has  made  his  home 
here  for  years  and  received  much  of  his  inspiration 
from  the  tranquil  charms  of  the  rural  neighbourhood. 
Giverny  has  become  popular  with  "  classes  "  of  late, 
so  prices  have  soared  somewhat  above  what  they  were 
in  a  former  day  at  the  little  Hotel  Baudy.  Baudy's 
is  the  one  hotel  of  the  place,  and  in  season  you  may 
pay  city  prices. 

Further  down  river  from  Paris,  below  Giverny, 
are  the  Norman  twin  towns  of  Les  Andelys.  The 
artist  goes  to  Petit  Andelys,  the  town  by  the  river, 
for  the  combination  of  the  chalk  cliffs  and  the  grey 


422      THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

walls  of  Chateau  Galllard  towering  high  above  the 
Seine,  also  for  the  privilege  of  living  for  a  space 
at  the  Hotel  Bellevue,  one  of  the  most  characteris- 
tically excellent  country  Inns  of  France. 

M.  Thirlet,  the  proprietor  of  the  Bellevue,  can 
still  be  persuaded  by  his  old,  long-standing  artist 


clientele  Into  granting  Its  members  the  traditional 
five-franc-a-day  rate — If  he  likes  you  he  will  do  any- 
thing for  you,  even  lose  money, — but  for  the  masses 
he  will  hold  up  his  hands  In  horror  at  the  mere  sug- 
gestion of  such  a  figure.  ^^  Pas  possible!  Pas 
possible**  he  will  say  In  a  high  treble.  And  judging 
from  what  one  who  Is  thus  favoured  gets  for  the 
money.  It  Is  not  difficult  to  believe  this  in  these  days 
of  Increasing  prices. 

Below  Les  Andelys,  in  another  bend  of  the  river, 
is  Pont  de  I'Arche.  It  has  for  a  unique  attraction 
the  only  church  In  all  the  world  dedicated  to  the 


ARTISTS'  SKETCHING-GROUNDS  ABROAD   423 

cause  of  art  and  artists — Notre  Dame  des  Arts.  The 
Hotel  de  Normandle,  by  the  old  stone  bridge  with 
many  arches,  is  a  pleasant  place  to  stay  if  one  can 
get  foot  within  the  portal.  Its  capacity  is  limited, 
and  it  is  popular  with  those  who  like  to  paint  in 
tranquil,  simply  disposed  surroundings.  The  salle 
a  manger  of  the  inn  is  decorated  with  panels,  sketches 
which  have  been  left  behind  by  artists  who  have  gone 
before  as  remembrances  for  the  kindly  proprietor. 

Caudebec-en-Caux,  still  by  the  banks  of  the  Seine, 
is  almost  too  popular  as  a  sketching-ground.  Its 
crazy  old  houses,  whose  foreheads  almost  touch  each 
other  over  the  meanderings  of  a  tiny  tributary  of  the 
Seine,  are  reminiscent  of  the  architecture  of  the 
school  drawing-books  of  olden  time. 

Northward,  sitting  high  on  a  bluff  overlooking  the 
sea,  is  Etretat,  now  no  longer  fashionable  as  a  re- 
sort, nor  popular  as  a  painter's  paradise.  Isabey, 
Hamon  and  Fromentin  all  gave  it  a  vogue  among 
connoisseurs  of  canvas,  and  Alphonse  Karr,  the 
ecrivain-jardinier,  sent  its  widespread  fame  abroad. 
All  this  is  changed,  but  there  will  always  be  a  scatter- 
ing of  artist  folks  to  be  found  here  painting  the  won- 
derful effects  of  sea  and  sky  and  shore. 

Across  the  estuary  of  the  Seine,  opposite  Le  Havre, 
is  Honfleur,  the  pays  of  Eugene  Boudin,  a  painter 
whose  vogue  with  a  former  generation  was  classic 
and  whose  motifs  have  been  left  behind  for  others 
to  fabricate  if  they  can,  sturdy  fishermen  and  women, 
all  sorts  and  colours  of  boats,  queer  old  tumble-down 
houses  and  quaint  seaside  churches  and  chapels.    Nor- 


424      THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

mandy,  take  it  all  in  all,  is  one  of  the  most  varied 
and  delightful  of  sketching-grounds. 

Down  through  mid-France  are  some  delightfully 
unspoiled  sketching-grounds  known  not  to  the  scorch- 
ing globe-trotter  who  jumps  crazily  about  Europe 
from  one  great  capital  to  another. 

The  lower  valley  of  the  Loire,  that  of  the  Upper 
Seine  and  Marne  and  those  of  the  Indre  and  the 
Cher  are  quite  in  a  class  by  themselves. 

In  the  Department  of  the  Creuze  is  a  vast,  purple, 
heather-blown  plateau  which  has  made  the  fame  and 
fortune  of  Didier-Puget.  He  alone  has  made  it  the 
basis  of  his  riots  of  colour  on  canvas,  and  the  land 
will  certainly  be  exploited  by  his  followers,  who  may 
be  expected  to  come  quickly  on  his  trail  once  his 
stamping  ground  is  located. 

In  the  valley  of  the  Yonne,  an  upper  tributary 
of  the  Seine,  at  Joigny  and  Villeneuve,  are  little 
artist  colonies  of  men  and  women  working  quietly 
away,  unrecognised  as  yet  by  the  world  at  large, 
but  carving  out  for  themselves  something  new, 
a  thing  which  is  difficult  in  these  days  of  over- 
exploitation. 

Down  along  the  shores  of  the  Mediterranean, 
painters — those  of  a  new  school — have  already  be- 
gun to  make  themselves  at  home.  They  are  seek- 
ing something  different  from  the  greenness  of  north- 
ern latitudes  and  are  falling  desperately  in  love  with 
the  parti-coloured  marine  life  of  the  busy  little  ports, 
none  the  less  than  the  white,  dusty,  cypress-lined 
roads,  olive  groves  and  a  sad,  morne  aspect  of  earth's 


ARTISTS*  SKETCHING-GROUNDS  ABROAD   425 

topography  which  is  as  much  of  the  Near  East  as 
Greece  or  Arabia. 

First  in  favour  among  these  French  Mediterra- 
nean sketching-grounds  is  Martigues  of  fig-tree  fame. 
Artists  work  here  quartered  in  one  or  another  of  the 
town's  three  hotels,  or,  hermit-like,  hide  away  in  a 
cabanon  in  the  hills,  a  tiny,  windowless  house  set 


among  vineyards  and  olive  groves,  as  lonesome  as 
the  Sahara. 

On  towards  the  Spanish  frontier  is  the  half-French 
and  half-Spanish  Collioure,  quite  at  the  end  of  the 
world  as  far  as  conventional  travel  goes,  and  withal 
a  bit  crude  and  uncouth,  but  a  heaven  for  the  artist. 
A  step  farther,  almost  into  Spain  this  time,  is  Banyuls- 
sur-Mer,  with  a  local  colour  which  is  remarkable 


426      THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

from  all  counts,  and  especially  so  in  the  vintage  time, 
when  the  town  Is  overrun  with  Spanish  muleteers, 
men  and  beasts  covered  with  the  gayest  trappings 
one  Is  likely  to  see  outside  of  a  circus.  There  are 
Catalan  fishermen,  too,  and  boats  as  gaudy  as  the 
mules,  and  there  is  an  excellent  hotel  which,  while 
lacking  anything  pretentious  or  even  picturesque, 
knows  well  what  it  is  that  the  artist  wants,  and  so 
it  is  a  sort  of  a  Mecca  for  those  who  are  in  the  know. 

Crossing  into  Spain  one  enters  another  sphere  of 
unworldliness.  The  round  is  not  to  be  described 
here  in  detail,  but  from  Palamos  in  the  cork  forests, 
and  quaint  Gerona  in  the  north,  to  Seville  and  Al- 
geglras  In  the  south  are  to  be  seen  on  every  hand 
things  for  the  artist  to  paint  which  may  not  be  found 
out  of  Iberia.  Then,  too,  there  is  Tangier,  just 
across  the  Straits,  in  Africa,  the  nearest  of  all  the 
painting  grounds  affected  by  the  "  Orlentalistes.'* 

WIelders  of  the  brush  are  looking  forward  to  the 
exploitation  of  Valencia  as  a  sketching-ground,  since 
it  is  found  that  Sorolla  used  its  beach  as  a  background 
for  the  chief  of  his  figure  studies.  Life  here  in  the 
hot  Spanish  seaside  sands  is  somewhat  free  and  re- 
laxing, for  all  things  in  Spain  relax  with  the  heat, 
even  custom,  and  not  the  least  of  all — etiquette. 
Spain  sees  nothing  out  of  the  ordinary  in  bathers 
undressing  and  dressing  on  the  open  beach,  nor  in 
the  artist  posing  an  ^*  academic ''  model  en  plein 
soleil.  Spanish  artists  in  droves  are  hastening  here 
to  get  in  touch  with  the  methods  of  the  modern 
master. 


ARTISTS'  SKETCHING-GROUNDS  ABROAD   427 

Around  Marseilles  Is  Cezanne's  country.  At  the 
pottery  town  of  Aubagne,  backed  up  with  the  foot- 
hills of  the  Maritime  Alps,  at  Estaque,  at  AUauch 
and  in  a  dozen  other  little  nearby  corners  of  old 
Provence  one  sees  Cezanne's  motifs  scarcely  without 
looking  for  them.  It  was  he  who  really  gave  this 
filip  to  a  new  school  of  art — the  Provengal  school,  a 
method  which  is  being  carried  on  industriously  by 
Galliardini,  Montenard,  Dauphine,  Nardi,  Olive 
and  a  dozen  others,  not  to  say  the  old-school  master, 
Ziem,  though  he  really  belongs  to  the  Venetian 
school,  Provencal  and  Martigau  though  he  be. 

Eastwards,  towards  the  real  Riviera  of  the  tour- 
ists, there  are  to  be  found  a  half-dozen  little  exploited 
sketching-grounds  between  Toulon  and  Saint  Tropez. 
There  is  Cap  Brun,  overlooking  the  great  Rade  de 
Toulon,  a  rival  of  Naples  Bay  in  all  things,  and 
there  is  Carquieranne  with  its  rocks  and  pines,  until 
finally,  going  eastward  by  the  coast,  one  sees  the 
quaint  Saracen  tower  of  the  church  at  Saint  Tropez 
looming  ahead.  Here  lives  Paul  Signac,  the  apostle 
of  the  newest  of  the  new  manners  of  painting,  the 
president  of  "  Les  Independants,"  those  secessionists 
from  the  old  salon  who  have  nearly  upset  the  Paris 
art  world. 

The  town  is  half-aquatic,  half-terrestrial,  and,  from 
the  excellent  Hotel  Sube  on  the  quay,  one  has  scarcely 
to  go  the  proverbial  stone's  throw  to  find  motifs 
ready-made.  There  is  the  luxuriance  of  the  lazy 
southerner's  life  in  all  its  aspects  forming  groupings 
as  fleeting  as  the  clouds  ever  about,  and  there  is 


428     THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

as  wonderful  a  panorama  of  the  life  of  seamen  In 
little  Mediterranean  coasting  vessels  as  may  be  found 
between  Gibraltar  and  the  Piraeus.  Saint  Tropez 
indeed  runs  Martlgues  a  close  second  In  popular 
favour,  and  the  excellence  and  variety  of  what  it 
has  to  offer  the  artist  with  the  facile  brush. 

Art  as  well  as  trade  follows  the  flag,  and  across 
the  Mediterranean,  in  the  French  province  of  Al- 
geria, as  much  French  as  Algiers  Itself  Is  a  Little 
Paris,  the  best  traditions  of  French  art  are  being 
followed.  At  Bou  Saada,  away  down  In  the  Sahara, 
is  an  incipient  sketching-ground.  Here,  under  the 
protection  of  a  French  army  post,  easels  are  set  up 
in  the  sands,  and  the  attempt  Is  being  made  to  lure 
onto  canvas  the  torrid,  exotic  charms  of  Sheiks 
wrapped  in  burnouses,  and  barbaric  dancing  girls  in 
not  much  of  anything  at  all. 

It  is  the  little  Hotel  BalUe  at  Bou  Saada  that  pro- 
tects the  life  of  the  painter  here  in  this  little  desert 
town  quite  as  much  as  the  soldiery.  It  is  not  bad 
when  the  surroundings  are  considered,  but  according 
to  European  tastes  it  has  its  limitations  in  the  food 
line.  One  eats  first  class  with  the  officers  or  second 
class  with  the  natives,  lives  at  the  hotel,  or  hires  an 
adobe  hut,  with  a  servant  to  watch  it,  for  the  sum 
total  of  about  a  franc  a  day  all  told.  Life  Is  not 
particularly  strenuous,  but  it  is  varied  and  would 
be  a  rather  hard  proposition  for  the  woman  painter 
who  liked  her  ease.  The  diet  is  principally  that  of 
stewed  goat  and  chicken,  made  Into  the  national 
couscouss,  and  while  filling  and  supposedly  nutritious, 


ARTISTS'  SKETCHING-GROUNDS  ABROAD    429 

is  decidedly  monotonous.  The  alternative  is  thin, 
scrawny  chicken  alone,  chicken  fattened  principally 
on  the  sands  of  the  desert.  Meanwhile,  the  few 
artists  that  come  to  Bou  Saada  chuckle  with  glee. 
There  is  no  danger  of  Bou  Saada  becoming  too  pop- 
ular, considering  that  its  food  supply  is  what  it  Is, 
and  that  one  has  to  ride  two  nights  and  a  day  in  a 
stuffy,  smelly,  Arab-crowded  diligence  to  get  there. 

The  artist  tilts  at  the  windmills  of  Holland  with 
the  impunity  of  a  Don  Quixote.  The  Pays  Bas  is  a 
happy  hunting  ground  for  the  painter.  Holland, 
with  Its  pines  and  dunes  of  the  northern  provinces, 
quaint  customs  and  gay  little  houses,  and  Belgium, 
with  its  tree-lined  canals  and  Its  low-roofed  farm- 
houses, will  strike  a  new  note  in  many  an  artist's 
song  of  art. 

Dordrecht  and  Its  maze  of  canals  Is  one  of  the  best 
known  of  Holland's  sketching-grounds.  White  um- 
brellas are  as  thick  along  the  canal  banks  as  are 
tubby  boats  on  their  surfaces.  Almost  any  house- 
holder at  Dordrecht  will  take  in  an  artist  and  lodge 
and  feed  him  In  an  ample  and  not  too  expensive 
fashion;  some  even  have  made  over  their  lofts  and 
attics  into  studios,  looking  to  every  white  umbrella 
and  painting  kit  that  they  see  coming  down  the  tow- 
path  as  a  possible  tenant.  One  thing  they  Insist  upon, 
these  householders  of  Dordrecht,  and  that  is  that  the 
painters  whom  they  may  shelter  beneath  their  roofs 
shall  not  be  allowed  to  plaster  their  palette  scrapings 
on  the  walls.  The  Dutch  housekeeper,  with  her 
passion  for  cleanliness,  absolutely  refuses  to  takq  as 


430      THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

an  excuse  the  fact  that  the  procedure  is  custom  Im- 
memorial and  comes  as  a  natural  consequence  of  the 
artistic  temperament. 

Laren  is  a  tiny  Dutch  village  which  is  the  capital 
of  Mauve's  country.  Here  come  his  disciples  in 
droves  to  copy,  as  near  as  may  be,  the  style  of  the 
Dutch  landscapist.  Israels,  too,  had  not  a  little  to 
do  with  making  Laren  famous.  All  these  artists' 
sketching-grounds  have  some  tutelary  genius  who  is 
the  prime  drawing  attraction,  the  central  sun  around 
which  the  lesser  lights  revolve,  but  here  there  were 
two  arcs,  or  at  least  a  sun  and  a  moon. 

It  may  be  a  question  as  to  whether  Dordrecht  or 
Volendam,  the  latter  on  a  tiny  island  in  the  Zuyder 
Zee,  is  the  chief  of  Dutch  sketching-grounds.  The 
English  and  American  elements  seem  to  prefer  Volen- 
dam, and  it  is  they  who  have  made  most  of  the 
profits  for  Spaander's  little  red-roofed,  red-walled 
inn.  The  thrifty  Dutchman  saw  the  wave  of  pros- 
perity coming  long  years  ago,  and  has  even  fitted 
up  a  studio  where  one  may  work  indoors. 

At  Volendam,  which  one  reaches  by  boat  from  the 
mainland,  one  sees  the  quaintest  and  most  nearly  un- 
spoiled of  all  the  old-time  Dutch  costumes,  those  of 
the  women  and  girls  being,  if  not  the  most  remark- 
able, at  least  the  most  attractve,  tight-fitting  white 
caps  with  spreading  wings  on  either  side,  short- 
sleeved  bodices  and  voluminous  skirts. 

Mynheer  Spaander's  little  inn  is  not  in  the  dollar-a- 
day  class;  it  is  expensive,  and  costs  four  or  five 
florins  a  day,  whereas  the  same  accommodation  could 


ARTISTS'  SKETCHING-GROUNDS  ABROAD    431 

have  been  had  in  a  former  day  for  half  as  much. 
Models  can  be  had  cheaply  enough,  for  the  frugal 
Dutch  still  consider  that  money  earned  in  this  way, 
with  no  apparent  expenditure  of  energy,  as  light 
work  and  accordingly  profitable — the  idea  of  being 
paid  for  doing  nothing.  It  is  much  better  than 
being  harnessed  to  a  tow-line  and  pulling  heavy  boats 
along  canals  or  carrying  two  heavy  brass  jugs  full 
of  milk,  three  or  four  gallons  to  each,  across  the 
shoulders,  swung  on  the  end  of  a  pole. 

The  old  Flemish  city  of  Bruges  entertains  a  cos- 
mopolitan crowd  of  artists  each  year.  A  five-franc- 
a-day  rate  is  possible  at  certain  hotels,  for  Belgium 
is  cheap  on  all  hands.  At  the  Hotel  de  Flandre  and 
the  Hotel  du  Commerce  are  sure  to  be  found  a  very 
considerable  artist  clientele  in  summer,  but  if  you  are 
not  wary  you  will  be  charged  more  than  the  others 
if  you  are  a  late  comer.  The  artist's  life  here  may 
be  made  very  enjoyable,  and  there  is  a  specious 
variety  of  paintable  things  about  Bruges'  deserted 
old  squares  and  its  solitary  canal  banks  which  are 
as  much  of  yesterday  as  to-day. 

The  artistic  life  of  England  is  much  more  con- 
ventional than  that  of  the  Continent.  It  runs  in 
oiled  grooves  almost  as  easily  as  an  ordinary  exist- 
ence, for  the  English  soil  is  not  suitable  to  the  giving 
root  to  Bohemianism,  an  eccentric  plant  which  re- 
quires a  peculiar  form  of  foothold  in  order  to  flourish 
at  its  best.  Bohemianism  in  England  died  out  with 
those  giants  of  English  art  who  founded  its  great- 
^s^    school    of    outdoor    painting — Moreland,    who 


432      THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

swapped  his  masterpieces  at  horse-trading  and  drank 
away  his  art  appreciation  in  carousing  with  pot-boys, 
and  others  of  his  ilk  and  time.  The  life  of  those 
who  pursue  art  in  England  to-day  is  as  well-ordered 
in  outward  appearances  as  that  of  a  country  gentle- 
man. 

England  has  some  charming  sketching-grounds, 
but  they  are  exploited  on  conservative  lines,  and  only 
patronised  to  any  extent  by  the  English  themselves. 
A  cosmopolitan  atmosphere  is  wanting,  and  the  only 
section  that  has  anything  of  an  international  reputa- 
tion is  the  Cornish  coast.  Here  the  mild  winter 
climate  and  the  paintable  qualities  of  the  rugged, 
storm-swept  shore  have  attracted  many  artists,  so  that 
they  have  formed  themselves  into  groups  and  colo- 
nies and  given  to  Cornwall,  the  Land^s  End  of  Eng- 
land, a  world-wide  fame  which  it  never  would  have 
known  otherwise. 

The  trade  of  the  fisherman  seems  always  to  have 
a  great  fascination  for  the  picture  maker,  and  the 
south  coast  fishing  villages  of  Saint  Ives,  Penzance 
and  Polperro,  afford  glimpses  of  him  at  work  which 
are  unequalled. 

Saint  Ives  is  the  nucleus  of  an  artists'  colony,  and 
as  journeys  to  London  are  long  and  expensive,  most 
of  its  members  have  built  comfortable  houses  with 
studio  attachments  and  settled  down. 

These  same  painters  were  responsible  for  the 
booming  of  Saint  Ives  as  a  resort,  for  their  pictures 
first  drew  the  outside  world  thither,  and  coming  for 
curiosity,  first  to  see,  they  stayed  on  because  they 


ARTISTS'  SKETCHING-GROUNDS  ABROAD    433 


liked  it  and  could  hang  on  to  the  fringe  of  a  life 

which  was  so  different  from  their  own.     The  artists 

first  deplored  this  popularity,  but  found  it  profitable 

to  rent  their  studio-houses  in  summer  to  the  people 

who  came  from  out 

their     own    sphere, 

and   hie   themselves 

away  to  Continental 

sketching  -  grounds, 

coming      back      to 

paint  the  mists  and 

storms     of     winter 

when     the     crowds 

had  gone. 

The  fisher  peo- 
ple of  Saint  Ives 
resented  the  coming 
of  the  artists  as  a 
pertinent  intrusion, 
of  which  they  did 
not  the  least  under- 
stand   the    purport. 

When  easels  were  first  planted  before  the  grey-slated 
walls  and  roofs  of  the  fishermen's  cottages  not  a  few 
were  bowled  over,  but  the  artists  persevering,  the 
native  got  used  to  the  procedure  and  went  about  his 
work  as  of  yore,  which  was  exactly  what  the  artists 
wanted  most.  To-day  many  a  fisherman  and  woman 
of  the  early  days  has  forsaken  their  former  trade  to 
become  a  model  at  a  more  lucrative  wage. 

In  Kent  and  Sussex  and  Surrey  are  charming  old 


Turns  To  Ar»- 


434      THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

Georgian  architectural  groupings  posed  quaintly  in 
the  midst  of  wold  and  rolling  downs.  In  the  his- 
toric old  coast  town  of  Rye,  one  of  the  celebrated 
"  Cinq  Ports,"  one  gets  a  really  foreign  composition 
and  colouring,  the  most  "  foreign  "  combination  to 
be  seen  in  all  England,  the  roofs  and  gables  of  the 
town  in  all  their  variety  and  quaintness  being  in 
strong  contrast  to  that  usual  variety  of  English 
background  which  one  associates  with  leafy  lanes, 
whimsically  pretty  rivers  or  Norman  Keeps  and 
Castles. 

There  is  a  Sussex  school  of  art,  as  there  is  a  Glas- 
gow school  of  art,  but  in  the  southern  county  the 
background  composes  itself  of  green-topped  chalk 
cliffs  instead  of  misty  braes  and  burns  peopled  with 
long-horned  cattle  as  in  wild  Caledonia. 

Up  in  East  Anglia,  as  the  east  coast  of  England 
is  familiarly  known,  is  Constable's  country.  Here 
was  really  originated  that  free  and  large  method  of 
outdoor  painting  which  was  later  so  highly  devel- 
oped across  the  Channel  at  Barbizon. 

Great  cumulus  clouds  still  sweep  over  the  land- 
scape of  East  Anglia  as  they  did  In  Constable's  time. 
There  are  lazily  turning,  decrepit  old  windmills  still, 
and  there  are  the  classic  "  Oaks  "  and  "  Mills  "  and 
"  Hay  Wains."  Little  is  changed  In  general  out- 
lines from  what  It  was  generations  ago  except  the 
public  taste,  and  this  Is  the  real  reason  why  the  East 
Anglian  school  of  painting  no  longer  ranks  high. 
Surroundings  and  accessories  are  much  as  they  were. 
Modernity  has  not  tempered  the  atmosphere — nor 


ARTISTS'  SKETCHING-GROUNDS  ABROAD    435 

the  climate,  nor  changed  the  slow-going  methods  of 
life  of  a  bucolic  population. 

Crome  and  Cotman,  too,  worked  not  far  away, 
and  Norfolk  and  its  Broads  and  their  famous 
wherries  form  an  Interlude  in  landscape  composition 
which  is  not  to  be  met  with  elsewhere.  They  are 
still  moving  incidents  in  a  pageantry  which  has  not 
quickened  its  pace  for  centuries. 

One  cannot  ignore  the  charming  little  artists'  vil- 
lage of  Broadway,  least  of  all  an  American,  for  here 
first  settled  the  late  Edwin  A.  Abbey  and  Frank  D. 
Millet,  two  Americans  who  have  led  the  best  tradi- 
tional methods  of  the  New  World  across  the  seas 
and,  as  one  may  put  it,  made  them  flourish  on  an 
alien  soil.  For  this  reason  hundreds,  thousands 
doubtless,  perhaps  tens  of  thousands,  have  already 
paid  their  respects  to  this  shrine  of  art. 


ze>i/^er/an 


A  WINTER  PLAYGROUND 

*'  WINTER  SPORTS  "  FOR  WINTER  TOURISTS 

A  FORTNIGHT  AT  ST.  MORITZ 

ON  ALPINE  SKATING  RINKS 

SWISS  WINTER  HOTELS 

INTERNATIONAL  SPORTS 

SWITZERLAND  A    CENTRE    FOR  WINTER   SPORTS 

WINTER  AMUSEMENTS  ELSEWHERE 

PIONEER  WINTER  RESORTS 

WINTER  SEASON  IN  THE  SWISS  ALPS 

SKI-RUNNING 

CAUX  FAVORS  THE   "  BOB   SLED  " 

MONTREUX  THE  TOURISTS*  CAPITAL 

CENSUS  OF  WINTER  VISITORS 

IN  THE  ENGADINE 

WINTER  SPORTS  FOR  THE  WOMAN 

COST  OF  FUN  AMONG  ALPINE  SNOWS 

MODERN  BOB  SLEIGH 

TOBOGGANING  AT  ST.  MORITZ 

CRESTA  "  BOB  SLED  "  RUN 

CLUB  DUES  AT  ST.  MORITZ 

KLOSTERS*  DANGEROUS  CURVE 

KEEPING  UP  AN  ICE  RINK 


XVIII 

WINTER  SPORTS  IN  SWITZERLAND 

Why  not  Switzerland  and  be  done  with  It,  we  asked 
ourselves  one  glacial  January  morning  when  our 
Paris  studio  ''  cloche ''  had  gone  out  over  night  and 
the  water  pipes  had  frozen  tight  and  all  but  burst? 
The  sun  does  sometimes  shine  brightly  there  In  win- 
ter and  the  snow  Is  hard  under  foot,  and,  we  were 
told,  the  hotels  were  most  comfortable  with  calori- 
feres  and  great  wood  logs  ablaze  In  the  hooded 
chimneys,  and  "  hot  and  cold  "  laid  on,  as  our  Eng- 
lish cousins  have  It,  referring  to  the  water  of  their 
baths.  In  Paris  we  had  scarcely  seen  the  sun  for 
four  weeks — fog,  rain,  more  rain  and  more  fog;  and 
now  a  freeze  with  the  prospect  of  a  muddy,  sticky 
thaw  which  would  hold  on  another  month. 

We  had  known  what  It  was  to  freeze  In  mid- 
August  beside  the  Rhone  Glacier :  midwinter  couldn't 
be  colder,  and  those  super-heated  hotels  and  the  sun- 
shiny climate  appealed  to  us  greatly. 

At  the  Paris  office  of  the  Swiss  Federal  Railways 
an  employee  gave  us  a  skeleton  map,  traced  our  route 
in  blue  pencil  and  made  up  our  ticket  in  accordance 
with  our  vagaries. 

We  left  the  Engadine  Express  the  next  morning 
at  Bale,  leaving  the  rest  of  our  fellow- voyagers  to 

439 


440     THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

go  on  to  Davos,  Coire  and  Saint  Moritz  whilst  we 
dropped  down  to  the  shores  of  Lac  Leman  (which 
a  former  generation  called  erroneously  Lake  Geneva) 
at  Montreux,  and  at  midday  were  taking  our  coffee 
on  the  open-air  terrace  of  a  great  hotel  in  a  warmth 
and  brilliance  that  was  tropical  after  Paris'  winter 
gloom.  Snow  and  ice,  hard-packed,  were  all  about 
us,  not  only  on  the  distant  mountain  peaks  and  slopes 
but  in  the  streets  of  the  town  as  well,  and  a  hard, 
glassy  surface  covered  the  little  lake  at  Les  Avants 
up  back  of  the  town. 

"  Winter  sport "  is  the  new-coined,  hyphenated 
nomenclature  for  the  divertisements  of  what  was  for- 
merly accepted  as  the  dull  winter  months.  The  sig- 
nificance of  the  word  is  known  from  the  Trossachs  to 
Tyrol,  from  the  Alps  of  Switzerland  to  the  purple 
Pyrenees  of  the  Basque  Provinces  and  from  Norway 
to  Roussilon.  The  bark  toboggan  of  the  red  Indian 
gives  place  to  the  Swiss  variety,  the  luge  and  the 
bob-sled,  and  the  snow-shoe  and  the  ''  cross e'^  to  the 
ski  and  the  curling  stone,  hockey  and  bandy.  Most 
of  the  sports  are,  as  is  obvious,  importations  from 
other  lands. 

Skating  on  artificially  made  rinks  may  be  obtained 
in  almost  all  parts,  and  frequently  on  natural  lakes 
which  are  kept  in  the  best  of  condition.  Notably 
this  applies  to  that  chain  of  lakes  between  Saint 
Moritz  and  the  Maloja  Pass;  those  of  Silvaplana  and 
the  Silsersee,  though  the  latter  are  of  such  great  depth 
that  they  freeze  over  only  late  in  the  season. 

From  Paris  to  Saint  Moritz  for  a  fortnight,  in- 


WINTER  SPORTS  IN  SWITZERLAND    441 

eluding  everything  needful  for  one's  comfort  and  en- 
joyment, transportation  (second  class),  food,  lodging 
and  a  participation  in  such  sports  as  strike  one's 
fancy,  ought  not  to  exceed  three  hundred  francs  (sixty 
dollars) ,  and  for  a  month  not  more  than  five  hundred 
francs  (one  hundred  dollars).  It  may  look  a  round 
figure  to  pay  but  the  expense  of  getting  there  and 
back  is  included,  for  Switzerland  is  not  exactly  at 
our  front  door,  even  if  we  do  live  in  Paris,  and  at 
least  one  hundred  and  twenty-five  francs  of  this  ex- 
pense is  for  railway  fares. 

At  Adelboden,  a  newly-opened  resort,  you  may  get 
an  inclusive  rate  that  will  cover  a  ticket  out  and 
back  from  London  or  Paris  and  a  stay  of  a  certain 
length  with  nothing  to  pay  once  you  have  regulated 
the  price  of  the  account  presented  when  you  buy 
your  ticket.  You  lose  a  good  deal  of  your  freedom 
of  action,  some  personal  pride  and,  maybe,  seriously 
inconvenience  yourself  by  such  a  procedure,  but  you 
may  expect  to  gain  twenty  per  cent  on  the  total  cost, 
which  is  something  in  these  days  of  high  prices — 
and  they  are  still  soaring  upward  even  in  Switzer- 
land. 

A  curious  phase  of  the  cost  of  hotel  living  in 
Switzerland  is  that  in  many  places  it  is  more  costly 
in  winter  than  in  summer.  With  everything  snowed- 
up  and  the  conditions  of  transport  and  distribution 
more  difficult,  this  readily  explains  itself  with  respect 
to  food  and  drink.  What  is  not  so  readily  explained 
is  that  in  Switzerland,  summer  and  winter  alike,  the 
casual  traveller  often  pays  as  much  for  a  single  meal 


442      THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

as  does  a  pensionnaire  for  his  food  and  lodging  for 
the  round  of  the  clock.  That  Switzerland  is  a  nation 
of  hotel  keepers,  and  successful  ones  at  that,  is  the 
only  possible  explanation. 

Another  considerable  item  of  expense  in  the  run- 
ning of  a  Swiss  hotel  in  winter  is  that  of  heating  and 
lighting,  for  nowhere  else  among  the  resorts  of 
Europe  is  so  much  attention  paid  to  the  heating  of 
hotel  public  rooms  and  private  apartments  as  in  this 
land  of  mountains.  One  is  not  cold  indoors  here  in 
the  heart  of  the  Alps  in  winter,  and  the  still,  out-of- 
door  cold  (even  should  the  bise  be  howling)  is  not 
to  be  feared  with  proper  clothing  protection,  for  there 
is  absolutely  no  dampness.  On  account  of  the  high 
winds  which  frequently  blow  down  off  the  Maloja 
Pass  there  are  fewer  consumptives  at  Saint  Moritz, 
which  is  farther  away,  than  at  Davos,  and  for  that 
reason  is  to  be  preferred  as  a  headquarters  in  the 
Engadine. 

Bad  weather  in  Switzerland  in  winter  usually  means 
snowy  weather  and  thus  it  continues  until  the  season 
of  spring  rains  sets  in.  Snow  seldom  brings  a  tem- 
perature below  freezing;  and  when  this — either  the 
clear,  dry,  still  cold,  or  the  dry,  bracing  wind  and 
hillocks  of  drifting  snow — is  found  in  conjunction 
with  bright  sunshine,  the  combination  is  very  attrac- 
tive indeed. 

The  English  have  sought  to  Introduce  into  Switzer- 
land as  winter  sports  football  and  hockey.  For  the 
latter  there  is  some  excuse,  for  played  on  the  ice  it 
becomes  "  bandy,"  but  for  the  former  it  is  as  ridicu- 


WINTER  SPORTS  IN  SWITZERLAND     443 

lous  as  if  it  were  cricket  or  baseball.  The  Scotch 
game  of  curling  is  also  extensively  played,  and  for 
this,  too,  there  is  some  reason  for  being  since  it  is 
played  upon  ice.  Skating  is  of  two  varieties  in 
Switzerland — the  English  and  the  Continental  styles. 
They  differ  greatly  and  seldom  are  the  two  practised 
in  any  one  resort.  The  Dutchmen  are  the  best 
European  skaters,  but  not  many  come  to  Switzerland 
— they  are  too  frugal  a  race  to  spend  their  money 
excursioning.  By  contrast  it  is  the  English  figure 
skater  who  is  most  often  seen  on  the  newly  flooded 
rinks,  even  before  Christmas,  when  the  snow  sports 
of  winter,  the  chief  of  which  is  "  bob-sleighing,''  be- 
gins in  the  Swiss  mountains. 

Switzerland  is  the  head  centre  of  les  sports  d^hiver, 
more  than  fifty  stations  being  devoted  to  them.  The 
game  is  an  international  one,  however,  so  far  as  par- 
ticipation therein  is  concerned,  and  even  France,  in 
the  Vosges,  the  Alps  of  Dauphiny  and  Savoy  and  in 
the  Pyrenean  provinces,  has  succumbed  and  has  seri- 
ously taken  up  with  the  new  idea  as  a  means  of 
attracting  winter  tourists  to  places  that  hitherto  were 
bereft  from  November  to  May.  The  mountain 
regions  of  central  Europe  are  no  longer  merely  sum- 
mer playgrounds.  In  Styria,  Tyrol  and  elsewhere 
in  Austria,  winter  sport  has  taken  on  immensely  well 
also.  At  Chamonix  and  certain  spots  in  the  Vosges 
an  initiative  is  to  be  remarked,  though  in  general  the 
French  Alpine  resort  authorities  say:  "Give  us  the 
clientele  and  we  will  establish  winter  hotels,  rinks 
and  toboggan  runs."     The  winter  tourist  is  apt  to 


444     THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 


reason  otherwise  and  reply,  "  Give  us  the  conveni- 
ences and  the  divertissements  which  we  demand  and 
we  will  come."  And  so  it  is  that  Switzerland  has 
won  out. 

The  former  Alpine  sport  of  Whymper's  and  Sir 
Martin  Conway's  day  is  giving  way  to  bob-sleighing, 
lugeing  and  skiing,  as  was  destiny  when  the  flanks 
of  the  Jungfrau  and  Mont  Blanc  came  to  be  pene- 
trated by  cog-wheel  railways.  Only  the  eidelweiss 
is  left  of  the  Switzerland  of  old,  that  sacred,  star- 
shaped  flower  which  is  a  paternoster  in  the  religion 
of  the  montagnard  of  Switzerland  and  Austria.  The 
diligence  has  not  wholly  disappeared,  but  it  is  only 
in  the  Canton  of  Orisons  and  on  the  Furka,  Grimsel 

and  Oberlap  Passes 
that  the  drivers  are 
safe  from  surprise 
by  some  mad,  rush- 
ing automobilist. 

As    far   back    as 
1882  the  proprietor 
of  the  Kulm  Hotel 
at  Saint  Moritz  de- 
cided   to    leave   his 
latch  string  out  all 
winter.     Up  to  that 
time     Switzerland's 
season      had      been 
summer;  since  that  time  it  has  run  from  the  rise  of 
the  first  to  the  decline  of  the  year's  last  moon  and 
the  prosperity  of  the  Swiss  hotel  keeper  has  pro- 


WINTER  SPORTS  IN  SWITZERLAND     445 

gressed  in  the  same  ratio,  Davos,  Saint  Moritz  and 
Grindelwald  being  the  pioneer  winter  resorts. 

The  winter  season  is  not  long,  for  except  in  the 
highest  stations,  it  scarcely  begins  before  January  and 
is  over  by  March.  The  majority  of  stations  at  a 
greater  elevation  than  three  thousand  feet  have  the 
shortest  season  and  begin  to  empty  towards  the  end 
of  January,  their  height  of  attraction  being  around 
Christmas  time,  though  the  ideal  month  for  ski- 
running  is  undoubtedly  February.  By  ski-running  is 
meant  long  excursions  on  skis,  a  climb  upwards  some 
two  thousand  feet  or  more  above  the  hotel-peopled 
slopes  and  valleys,  in  company  with  a  Swiss  guide. 
There  one  rests  in  some  Alpine  club  hut,  lunches  and 
swoops  down  again  like  a  bird  on  swift-gliding  skis 
over  the  virgin  snow  and  under  a  sun  as  vivid  as  if 
one  were  on  the  shores  of  the  Mediterranean  instead 
of  those  of  Lac  Leman.  This  really  makes  skiing 
worth  while,  though  most  who  affect  the  sport  merely 
hop  about  before  the  terraces  of  the  hotels  and  hurry 
back  for  a  "  hot  scotch ''  or  tea  at  frequent  in- 
tervals. 

To-day  the  season  at  Chateau  d'Oex,  at  Les 
Avants  above  Montreux,  at  Davos  and  Saint  Moritz 
in  Grisons,  at  Disentis,  at  Grindelwald,  at  Diablerets, 
Champery,  Montana,  Kanderstag,  Adelboden  and 
Engelberg  is  quite  as  much  a  winter  season  as  a 
summer  one.  The  hotels  are  most  nearly  full  in 
winter  and  it  is  then  that  one  pays  the  highest  prices 
for  accommodations.  It  is  open  house  now  all  the 
year  round  in  most  of  the  high  Alpine  valleys  of 


446      THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

hotel-keeping,  tourist  Switzerland.  The  air  is  pure, 
clear  and  cold,  the  sun  hot  in  the  valleys  for  a  brief 
moment  at  midday  from  before  Christmas  until  the 
end  of  February,  and  one  is  as  comfortable  without 
wraps  here  as  in  a  latitude  many  hundreds  of  miles 
further  south.  At  sundown,  which  may  be  at  two  or 
three  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  if  a  high  mountain  in- 
tervenes to  the  southwest,  all  is  glacial,  and  what  little 
thaw  there  may  have  been  on  the  skating  ponds, 
the  skiing  ground  and  the  toboggan  runs  congeals 
again  for  the  morrow's  sport.  Sometimes,  even,  it  is 
a  moonlight  game,  this  winter  sport  of  Switzerland, 
and  sometimes  a  ten  or  twenty  mile  sleigh-ride  by 
night  is  a  variation.  But  usually  it  is  a  case  of  tea 
and  dinner  and  bridge  and  a  hot  grog  and  then  to 
bed  in  the  great  white  palaces  of  the  Alpine  slopes 
overlooking  some  silent,  glassy  valley  or  the  cold 
blue-grey  of  Leman's  Lake. 

The  Engadine,  the  Oberland  and  the  High  Valley 
of  the  Rhone  are  a  very  cinematograph  of  life  and 
movement  in  winter.  Here  are  new  worlds  to  con- 
quer for  the  conventional  traveller  who  has  previously 
done  Switzerland  only  in  summer  or  Algeria  in  win- 
ter. Things  should  be  reversed,  the  latter  in  May 
or  September  and  the  former  in  January  will  give  one 
a  new  outlook  on  things. 

At  Caux,  which  the  former  tourist  ignored,  are 
now  great  hotels  with  bob-sleigh  garages,  which  are 
as  much  a  necessary  adjunct  to  this  modern  twentieth 
century  life  as  an  automobile  garage  in  a  main  road 
town.     A  three  kilometre  run,  commencing  at  the 


WINTER  SPORTS  IN  SWITZERLAND     447 

Cret  d'y  Bau  high  up  in  the  mountains,  finishes  at 
the  very  door  of  the  Palace  Hotel.  How  desirable 
an  attraction  the  run  and  its  attendant  line  of  trucks 
to  take  the  coasters  up  hill  again  was  thought  to  be 
by  the  hotel  administration  is  best  realised  when  it 
is  stated  that  its  upkeep  costs  annually  fifty  thousand 
francs.  Besides  this  there  is  a  run  for  luges ^  or 
single  sleds,  and  two  ice  rinks.  Caux  is  a  winter 
rival  of  Luna  Park  and  considerably  more  exclusive 
and  luxurious. 

On  Mont  Pelerin,  above  Vevey,  a  similar  enter- 
prise, with  the  addition  of  a  skiing  ground,  has  come 
into  being.  Meanwhile  trade  follows  the  flag  and 
the  Swiss  are  so  happy  that  they  have  got  an  all-the- 
year-round  occupation  that  they  are  no  longer  emi- 
grating. 

Some  one  once  wrote  an  anthology  of  prose  and 
verse  describing  the  delights  of  Switzerland  under  all 
its  varied  aspects  and  at  all  seasons.  It  ran  from 
Gesner  to  Longfellow,  Rosseau  to  the  Williamsons — 
who  wrote  the  "  Lightning  Conductor."  There  was 
Miss  Braddon  and  John  Ruskin  and  others.  It  was 
a  good  anthology  as  anthologies  go,  but  whilst  spring, 
summer,  autumn  and  winter,  sky  and  lake  and  moun- 
tain were  all  pictured,  practically  nothing  was  said  of 
winter  sport. 

Chateaubriand  was  about  the  only  one  among  these 
contributors  who  did  not  laud  the  praises  of  the 
mountains.  He  protested  that  mountains  fatigued 
one  to  the  point  where  he  could  not  philosophise 
going  up,  and  that  one's  natural  fear  when  coming 


448     THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

down  so  monopolised  attention  that  nothing  else  mat- 
tered. 

This  Is  not  the  point  of  view  of  the  lover  of 
winter  sports  of  the  mountains  as  they  have  been 
developed  In  the  Switzerland  of  to-day.  Just  what 
It  means  to  Switzerland  to  have  all  four  seasons  full 
ones  Is  best  realised  by  the  contemplation  of  a  few 
statistics.  Montreux,  for  Instance,  Is  a  town  of 
hotels  of  all  ranks  and  conditions  and  full  at  all 
seasons.  Visitors  have  Increased  fifty  per  cent  In 
five  years,  partly  because  of  the  quality  and  quantity 
of  the  hotel  accommodation  offered,  partly  because  of 
its  accessibility  and  proximity  to  the  multifarious,  all- 
round  amusements  of  that  part  of  Switzerland  of 
which  it  Is  the  stranger's  capital. 

Switzerland's  tourists  are,  like  Its  speech,  princi- 
pally German.  Out  of  each  thousand  of  Its  hotel 
dwellers  three  hundred  and  ten  are  Teutons,  two 
hundred  and  twenty-two  are  Swiss  themselves,  one 
hundred  and  thirty-five  English,  and  one  hundred  and 
ten  Americans.  The  list  tails  off  with  twenty-four 
Italians  and  eighteen  Austrlans,  with  the  French, 
Russians,  Hollanders  and  Belgians  In  between.  In 
the  winter  season  Americans  and  English  seem  to 
predominate,  and  the  former  are  quite  as  much  in 
evidence  as  the  latter,  if  not  actually  in  numbers, 
at  least  In  appearance.  That  is  a  question  of  na- 
tional temperament  one  may  rightly  suppose;  the 
American  is  usually  in  evidence  wherever  he  may  be. 
The  Germans  come  to  Montreux  mostly  In  the  spring. 
To  nineteen  thousand  Germans  in  1909  there  were 


WINTER  SPORTS  IN  SWITZERLAND     449 

six  thousand  two  hundred  and  twenty-seven  Ameri- 
cans. The  French  come  chiefly  in  August,  as  do  the 
cheap  trippers  from  London,  bound  to  or  from  the 
Oberland  or  the  Engadine.  During  the  same  year 
forty  thousand  strangers  stayed  at,  or  passed  through, 
Montreux,  those  who  actually  stopped  there  for  any 
length  of  time  being  those  who  came  for  the  winter 
sports. 

It  is  not  dull  travelling  in  Switzerland  in  winter, 
not  even  by  contrast  with  what  one  may  have  known 
of  it  on  some  summer  journey.  A  deep  blanket  of 
snow  is  everywhere,  and  the  Jungfrau  and  the  Wen- 
gernalp,  Mont  Cervin  at  Zermatt  and  old  Mont  Blanc 
itself  (which  is  not  in  Switzerland  but  in  France) ,  are 
a  few  shades  whiter  with  the  snow  deeper  on  their 
lower  slopes;  that  is  all. 

By  the  wonderful  Albula  railway  one  reaches  Saint 
Moritz  in  winter  with  the  sensation  of  a  locomotive 
and  its  following  train  skating  on  ice.  Before  the 
line  was  opened  (from  Thusis  to  Saint  Moritz)  it 
was  a  matter  of  two  or  three  days  getting  into  the 
Engadine  over  the  Julier  Pass.  The  former  method, 
in  a  great  sleigh  with  from  three  to  six  horses,  was 
picturesque  and  amusing  but  inconvenient.  It  was 
so  in  Robert  Louis  Stevenson's  day,  when  he  and  the 
boy  Lloyd  printed  those  famous  little  "  Davos  Book- 
lets "  now  worth  their  weight  in  gold.  To-day  by  a 
train-de-luxe  one  travels  more  quickly,  more  com- 
fortably, and  takes  his,  or  her,  winter  sport  at  the 
journey's  end  rather  than  in  the  joy  and  adventure 
of  getting  there. 


450     THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

The  coming  of  the  railway  to  the  Engadlne  has 
meant  the  coming  of  the  crowds,  and  even  the  aspect 
of  the  visitors  has  changed.  To-day  they  are  more 
transitory  than  formerly.  If  on  a  former  winter's 
day  at  Saint  Moritz  or  Davos  you  met  a  party  group 
that  you  saw  there  a  month  before,  you  thought 
nothing  of  It;  to-day,  but  thirty-six  hours  later,  the 
same  party  may  be  met  at  Montreux,  at  Aigle,  at 
Sierra  or  Montana.  Winter  sport  in  Switzerland  is 
a  sort  of  movable  sport.  You  bundle  up  your  skis 
as  you  did  your  umbrella  and  your  alpenstock  on  a 
summer  tour,  and  after  the  Engadlne  has  palled, 
make  your  way  to  Grindelwald,  and  luge,  and  ski  and 
skate  amid  a  new  environment  until  the  spirit  warns 
you  to  move  on  again. 

Swiss  winter  sports  are  as  much  for  women  as  for 
men,  for  though  they  are  vigorous  and  bespeak  agility 
on  the  part  of  the  players,  as  well  as  a  love  of  the 
open,  they  are  in  comport  with  the  new  order  of 
things  which  has  come  to  recognise  the  virtues  of 
exercise  and  fresh  air.  Such  as  go  to  Switzerland 
in  winter  enjoy  great  advantages  over  those  who  put 
In  their  time  at  the  merely  fashionable  resorts  of  the 
Riviera  or  the  tepid,  tea-drinking  winter  colonies 
of  Cairo  and  Biskra.  Routine  gives  place  to  free- 
dom of  movement  and  unconventionality,  inanition 
to  exercise,  and  frills  and  furbelows  to  sensible 
and  practical  health-giving,  health-sustaining  cos- 
tumes. 

An  outfit  for  Switzerland  in  winter  is  easily  and 
cheaply  conceived,  and  if  of  the  quality  that  it  ought 


WINTER  SPORTS  IN  SWITZERLAND     451 

to  be  it  will  possess  a  durability  that  will  assure  it  long 
service. 

The  winter  days  are  short  in  Switzerland  and  the 
evenings  long,  so  If  one  wants  to  mix  social  flippancies 
with  lusty  exercise,  she  may  still  have  the  opportunity 
to  don  frocks  of  fashion  at  the  musical  evenings, 
dances  and  bridge  parties  of  the  great  steam-heated, 
electric-lighted,  palatial  hotels  which  are  now  found 
in  close  proximity  to  the  half  a  hundred  winter-sports 
stations  of  the  country. 

One  may  not  do  the  round  of  all  these  winter  re- 
sorts in  ten  days,  but  the  point  is  that  whereas  winter 
visitors  to  Switzerland  usually  stayed  weeks,  they 
now  come  for  a  ten-day  plunge  into  the  clear,  cold, 
rarefied  atmosphere  at  some  of  the  great  resorts  whose 
attractions  have  been  widely  advertised,  and  go  back 
again  to  Paris,  to  Dresden  or  to  London,  their  lungs 
and  hearts  full  of  new  vigour  and  emotions. 

Davos,  Klosters,  Landquart,  Coire,  Thusis,  Cresta 
and  Saint  Moritz  were  but  vague,  humble  place- 
names  a  generation  ago,  but  to-day,  taking  Saint 
Moritz  and  its  Grand  Hotel  as  an  example  (it  offers 
four  hundred  beds  to  visitors),  their  fame  is  some- 
what more  considerable.  At  the  foot  of  the  Cresta 
snow  run  is  Celerina,  with  another  newly  opened 
enormous  caravansary,  on  whose  open  ice  rink  is  held 
the  English  Public  Schools  Skating  Championship  for 
the  Challenge  Cup  now  held  by  Malvern  College. 

Here  in  the  upper  Engadine,  chiefly  on  that  chain 
of  lakes  extending  from  Samaden  to  Maloja,  at  an 
elevation  approximating  six  thousand  feet,  skating  Is 


452      THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

at  its  best.  Artificially  made  rinks  are  everywhere, 
too,  water  being  flowed  over  depressions  in  the  frozen 
ground  and  they,  as  well,  for  the  less  venturesome 
skaters,  fill  a  want. 

In  the  most  popular  of  the  Swiss  winter  resorts 
one  pays  on  an  average  of  twelve  francs,  say  two  dol- 
lars and  forty  cents  a  day,  and  the  pursuing  of  the 
sports  themselves  is  a  cheap  enough  amusement.  The 
cheapest  are  skiing,  skating  and  tobogganing.  For 
these  one  pays  a  small  sum,  varying  from  a  half  a 
franc  for  a  seance  to  two  or  three  francs  for  a  day's 
sport  on  the  specially  prepared  tracks  or  rinks.  Bob- 
sleighing costs  a  good  bit  more,  rising  from  twenty  to 
fifty  francs,  four  dollars  to  ten  dollars  a  day,  an 
expense  which  would  naturally  be  divided  among 
several. 

The  "  bob-sled,''  as  it  is  known  in  Switzerland  to- 
day, was  originally  imported  from  the  United  States 
in  1889;  ^t  least  it  developed  from  a  species  of 
"  double-runner  "  which,  by  the  time  it  had  crossed 
the  ocean  and  climbed  up  into  the  high  Alps,  had 
become  known  as  a  "  pig-sticker."  The  modern 
"  bob-sleigh "  Is  scientifically  constructed  and  is  a 
thing  of  four  spring  runners,  much  hardware  trap- 
ping in  the  form  of  hand  rails,  foot  rests,  steering- 
gear  and  the  like,  and  possesses  a  general  business- 
like air  which  would  seem  to  make  the  conduct  of 
it  more  a  profession  than  a  sport.  The  name  of 
Mathls  of  Saint  Moritz  or  Beek  of  Davos  on  the 
dashboard  of  a  "  bob,"  is  what  Renault  or  Panhard 
is  on  an  automobile. 


WINTER  SPORTS  IN  SWITZERLAND    453 

Sleighing  in  general  Is  even  more  expensive,  par- 
ticularly with  respect  to  lengthy  excursions,  but  again 
this  Is  a  sort  of  community  affair  and  ought  not  to 
cost  the  individual  more  than  a  dollar  a  day,  say 
thirty  per  cent  more  than  the  "  bob-sleigh.'* 

One  of  the  most  popular  of  these  Swiss  sleigh 
excursions  is  from  Samaden,  through  Saint  Moritz 


and  Silvaplana,  to  SIls  and  Maloja  and  their  deep 
water  lakes.  The  lakes,  though  often  freezing  to 
a  depth  of  three  solid  feet,  crackle  and  detonate  like 
a  cannonade  as  one  glides  over  their  surface. 
"  Crackling  ice  is  the  safest,''  Is,  however,  an  axiom 
that  holds  good  in  the  Engadine. 

For  a  dozen  or  fifteen  miles  from  Samaden  the 
narrow  ribbon  of  the  post  road  winds  up  to  the  table 


454     THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

land  from  whence,  a  little  beyond  Maloja,  it  plunges 
off  into  the  Lombard  plain  of  Italy.  Those  to  whom 
the  skating  Is  not  the  prime  object  of  the  excursion 
may  climb  the  height  back  of  the  town,  see  the  won- 
derful, wide-spread  panorama  for  themselves  and  still 
get  back  to  the  Bernina  hostelry  at  Samaden  to  sleep. 

Taking  Saint  Moritz  as  a  centre,  tobogganing  is 
usually  practised  in  the  morning  before  the  sun  has 
melted  the  ruts  of  the  coast  into  holes.  The 
*'  bandy  "  game  is  an  afternoon  amusement.  It  is 
only  In  February  that  "  bob-sleighing  "  Is  at  Its  height, 
and  at  Saint  Moritz  It  has  a  special  track  lying  paral- 
lel to  the  famous  Cresta  toboggan  run.  "  Bobbing," 
as  it  Is  called.  Is  also  an  afternoon  sport  and  Is  quite 
the  most  social,  and  perhaps  the  most  dangerous, 
of  all. 

A  steersman  and  brakeman  are  the  only  really 
skilled  and  sporty  individuals  of  a  "  bob-sled's  "  crew. 
The  rest,  fellows  and  girls,  are  sandwiched  In  be- 
tween, on  the  plank  of  this  refined  double-runner,  and 
are  told  simply  to  sit  tight,  and  if  a  spill  comes  to 
devitalise  themselves  that  they  may  suffer  no  broken 
bones  nor  run  the  risk  of  being  killed.  They  are 
the  ballast  of  the  craft;  those  at  either  end  the  crew. 
The  word  "  bob "  thus  applied  comes  from  the 
swinging  backwards  and  forwards  by  the  crew  and 
the  ballast  whilst  coasting,  a  movement  not  unlike  that 
of  the  crew  of  a  four-  or  eight-oared  shell. 

The  Cresta  "  bob-sled  "  run  is  supposedly  the  finest 
in  existence.  It  was  scientifically  built  to  begin  with 
and  is  kept  in  the  best  of  condition.     An  American 


WINTER  SPORTS  IN  SWITZERLAND     455 

once  steered  a  "  bob  "  over  the  entire  length  of  the 
run,  including  all  Its  high-banked  curves,  one  thou- 
sand four  hundred  and  fifty  yards,  in  sixty-three  sec- 
onds, and  that  Is  not  far  from  fifty  miles  an  hour. 
Why,  it's  the  next  thing  to  aeroplaning ! 

The  Schatz-Alp  "  bob-sled  "  course  at  Davos  is 
over  two  miles  long,  with  many  sharp  curves.  A 
snow  course  offers  the  best  opportunity  for  display- 
ing the  skill  of  the  steersman  of  a  "  bob  "  and  is  less 
fraught  with  danger  in  the  case  of  an  overturn  than 
an  Ice  run.  There  is  one  ''spill-over''  curve,  virtu- 
ally a  great  horse-shoe,  on  the  Schatz-Alp  run,  which 
would  be  reckoned  a  marvel  of  engineering  if  it  was 
an  adjunct  of  a  dirt-built  road.  Then  there  is  the 
"  made  run,"  Iced  practically  throughout  its  length, 
and  banked  so  high  at  the  corners  that  It  Is  almost 
impossible  for  any  self-respecting  "  bob  "  to  shoot 
off  comet-like  Into  space,  though  the  thing  has  been 
known. 

At  Klosters,  on  a  course  nearly  two  miles  In  length, 
is  another  famous  curve  known  as  the  "  Cabbage 
Garden,"  which  sees  frequent  spills  and  some  really 
dangerous  accidents.  It  was  at  Klosters  a  half  a 
century  ago — at  the  Instigation  of  John  Addlngton 
Symonds,  old  stagers  will  tell  you — that  the  Swiss 
variety  of  toboggan  came  into  being.  For  a  fact,  the 
toboggan  has  more  or  less  evolved  Itself  Into  the 
"  bob-sled,"  but  by  the  way  of  the  American  double- 
runner. 

The  Saint  Moritz  International  Skating  Club  Is  a 
formally  organised  and  elaborately  constituted  InstI- 


456     THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

tution.  Formerly  one  became  a  member  by  the  pay- 
ment of  a  five-franc  fee,  became  a  life  member  in 
fact.  To-day  things  are  different.  It  is  a  much 
more  serious  affair.  One  now  pays  an  annual  sub- 
scription of  ten  francs  for  merely  becoming  a  member 
of  the  club  for  a  season,  and  this  only  if  staying  at 
one  of  the  hotels  which  is  a  party  to  the  organisation. 
If  you  lodge  elsewhere  the  subscription  is  doubled  to 
twenty  francs.  For  this  one  has  the  use  of  a  private, 
superbly  kept  ice  rink,  so  the  charge  by  no  manner 
of  reckoning  can  be  called  an  onerous  one. 

The  keeping  up  of  a  Swiss,  ice  rink  is  a  costly  and 
continuous  performance.  The  slightest  fall  of  snow 
has  to  be  swept,  or  scraped,  from  the  surface  before  it 
freezes  into  roughness  or  hummocks,  a  labour  which, 
curiously  enough,  is,  in  many  places  in  the  Engadine, 
performed  by  sunny-faced  condottieri  from  Italy  who 
at  other  seasons  work  at  railway  building  or  grape 
picking  in  the  vineyards  of  Piedmont. 

SOME  SWISS  WINTER  RESORTS  AND  THEIR  ALTITUDES 


Adelboden 

Andermatt 

Celerina    . 

Champery 

Diablerets 

Engelberg 

Gastaad    . 

Grindelwald 

Goldiwill 


4,500  feet 

4-738  " 

S.S77  " 

3.500  " 

3.940  " 

3.300  " 

3.490  " 

3.468  " 

3.117  " 


WINTER  SPORTS  IN  SWITZERLAND      457 


Kanderstag 
Klosters    . 
Lauterbrunnen 
Saanen 
Samaden  . 
Saint  Moritz    . 
Wengen    . 
Waldhaus-Flims 
Zwelsimmen 


3,835  feet 

4,090 

2,625 

3^773 
5,670 
6,090 
4,190 
3^700 
3>2i5 


g^^WOM  AN  c^nSfJ^ 


THREE  WAYS  OF  MOTORING  ABROAD 
RESOURCEFUL  WOMAN  TRAVELLER 
TWO  MOTORING  BOGEYS 
THE  woman's  ideal  TOUR 
MOTORIST  SEES  A  NEW  EUROPE 
GETTING  ACQUAINTED  WITH  EUROPE 
AUTOMOBILE  SIMPLIFIES  TOURING 
COST  OF  TOURING  BY  MOTOR    CAR 
HISTORY  REPEATS  ITSELF 
HLRING  A  CAR  ABROAD 
LUXURIOUS  TRAVEL   BY  AUTOMOBILE 
RESPONSIBILITY  OF  JEWELS 
COMPARATIVE  MERITS  OF  CHAUFFEURS 
MOTORING  IN  THE  BRITISH  ISLES 
FRANCE,  THE  MOTORIST'S  PARADISE 
COUNTRY  INNS  AND  THE  AUTOMOBILE 
SPAIN  PRESENTS  DIFFICULTIES 
INHOSPITABLE  SWITZERLAND 
SPEED  SLOWS  DOWN  ACROSS  THE  ALPS 
AS  THE  MOTORIST  SEES  ITALY 
ABOUT  THE  ITALIAN  LAKES 


XIX 

THE  WOMAN  AND  THE  CAR 

There  are  three  ways  of  seeing  Europe  from  an 
automobile — to  take  over  one's  own  car  and  chauffeur; 
to  hire  an  automobile  and  chauffeur,  or  to  depend  on 
short,  circular  tours,  from  certain  centres,  where  a 
hotel  or  some  enterprising  tourist  agency  provides 
automobile  runs  about  the  neighbourhood,  varying 
from  a  day  to  a  week,  all  Included.  This  last  Is  the 
most  feasible  plan  for  many,  for  everything  Is 
arranged  without  effort  on  the  part  of  the  traveller;  It 
is  the  modern  means  of  extending  the  radius  of  the 
old-time  local  carriage  drive,  which  still  adds  to  the 
time  and  costliness  of  sight-seeing  In  many  localities. 

This  latter  arrangement  often  affords  just  about 
as  much  motoring  as  many  women  want — for  as  a 
class  they  are  not  hardy  motorists ;  It  bears,  however, 
about  the  same  relation  to  real  automobile  touring 
as  a  sandwich  does  to  a  course  dinner.  The  obvious 
reply  is  that  one  might  just  as  well  take  the  sandwich 
if  she  can't  get  the  dinner,  but  perhaps  If  the  woman, 
who  has  been  so  resourceful  In  getting  about  in  other 
ways,  will  turn  her  ingenuity  to  the  question  of  travel 
by  automobile  she  will  perhaps  be  able  to  get  the 
dinner  made  up  of  a  dish  from  each  leading  nation. 

Two  bogeys  discourage  travel  by  automobile  for 
461 


462      THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

the  woman  abroad.  One  is  that  supposedly  it  can- 
not readily  be  done  without  male  escort,  and  the  other 
that  it  is  too  expensive  for  the  average  touring  allow- 
ance. 

As  to  the  first,  for  say  three  or  four,  it  is  the 
woman's  ideal  way  of  touring.  Here  is  the  possible 
way  of  gaining  that  exclusiveness  that  so  many  women 
crave,  and  as  for  protection,  she  does  no  more  need 
a  man  along  than  does  the  twenty-five  or  forty  horse- 
power car  need  a  real  horse  to  increase  its  effective- 
ness. 

To  probe  deeper  into  the  subject,  one  questions 
how  much  women  really  care  for  touring  by  auto- 
mobile, that  is,  real  touring,  rising  early,  keeping  at 
it  all  day,  being  delayed  for  meals  occasionally, 
spending  half  the  night  by  the  roadside  on  that  day 
when  every  one  of  the  tires  blow  out  with  unanimity. 
This  is  a  bit  different  from  using  the  big  touring  car 
for  running  around  town  or  out  to  the  country  club, 
as  so  often  is  the  limit  of  the  practice  at  home. 

In  a  few  words,  motoring,  which  is  popularly  sup- 
posed to  be  such  a  luxurious  sport,  calls  for  a  lot  of 
endurance  and  staying  qualities,  and  quickly  weeds 
out  the  pseudo-traveller  and  shows  up  the  sporty  char- 
acteristics of  the  woman  who  cares  for  things  for 
their  own  sakes  and  not  just  because  they  are  the 
fashion. 

The  automobile  has  opened  up  a  new  Europe.  It 
is  like  following  "  Alice  Through  the  Looking-Glass  " 
and  entering  a  land,  surprised  to  find  it  real,  which 
§eemed   always   not   unlike   an   imaginary,    painted 


THE  WOMAN  AND  THE  CAR  463 

panorama,  viewed  as  It  usually  had  been  through  the 
dusty  frame  of  the  window  of  a  flying  train.  The 
lesson  is  being  learned  that  by  means  of  the  facile 
automobile  is  the  only  way  to  see  a  country;  more 
than  this — it's  the  only  way  for  the  passing  traveller 
to  ever  get  to  know  a  foreign  land. 

One  can  never  know  Europe  intimately  until  she 
has  felt  the  joy  of  the  open  road,  reeled  off  at  least 
some  considerable  length  of  the  long,  straight,  won- 
derful roads  of  France,  has  glided  along  under  the 
shadow  of  the  Rhine  castles,  followed  by  the  side  of 
Dutch  and  Flemish  canals,  braved  the  dangers  of  an 
inhospitable  Swiss  pass,  and  the  almost  equally  dan- 
gerous leafy  lanes  of  England,  the  dust  and  pictur- 
esqueness  of  Italian  highroads,  and  has  followed  in 
the  trail  of  the  camel  over  the  desert  sands  to  Biskra. 
Such  experiences  will  tend  to  place  the  English-speak- 
ing pension,  with  its  banal  chit-chat,  in  its  true  posi- 
tion in  the  scheme  of  things  abroad,  and  give  one  a 
broader  and  more  comprehensive  understanding  of 
foreign  things. 

For  that  most  industrious  traveller — the  American 
woman  with  two  or  three  months  at  her  disposal — 
the  automobile  is  invaluable  as  a  means  of  covering 
ground  and  sight-seeing  at  the  same  time. 

All  the  methods  of  procedure  set  forth  above  are 
to  be  considered,  but  perhaps  the  most  practical  is 
to  hire  a  car  abroad,  though  If  the  woman  wishes 
to  take  her  own  car  and  chauffeur,  which,  in  her  case, 
is  better  than  depending  on  the  foreign  driver,  it  is 
even  a  less  expensive  arrangement  than  to  hire  the 


464      THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

same  combination  on  the  other  side  if  one's  time  ex- 
tends beyond  three  months,  for  say  five  or  six. 

Four  women,  a  car  and  a  chauffeur  can  tour  the 
motorist's  Europe  for  one  thousand  dollars  a  month, 
comfortably  and  easily,  including  the  cost  of  ocean 
transport.     Carefully  figure  up  the  approximate  cost 


of  the  ordinary  tour  for  that  same  period,  and  the 
chances  are  that  the  motor  trip  will  not  figure  up 
appreciably  higher  than  the  other.  Two  hundred 
and  fifty  dollars  a  month  is  about  as  close  a  margin 
on  which  any  but  an  exceedingly  knowing  and  care- 
ful person  can  travel  on  day  after  day  by  automobile 
in  Europe,  visiting  all  the  stock  sights,  big  and  little. 


THE  WOMAN  AND  THE  CAR  465 

This  necessitates  of  course  that  finances  be  studied  and 
that  there  be  no  leakages.  The  thing  that  mostly 
affects  the  cost  of  the  automobile  tour  abroad  is  the 
disposition  everywhere  to  put  motorists  in  a  class  by 
themselves  and  make  them  pay  for  this  distinction. 
Motorists  themselves  are  largely  to  blame  for  this 
discrimination,  for  they  have  rather  taken  that  same 
view  of  themselves. 

The  modern  automobile  has  brought  about  condi- 
tions similar  to  those  that  were  the  outcome  of  the 
period  when  the  Englishman  made  the  grand  tour 
of  Europe  in  his  private  coach  and  four,  accompanied 
by  a  retinue  of  servants,  maids,  lackeys,  mountains  of 
luggage  and  his  whole  family. 

History  has  repeated  itself  with  emphasis;  the 
Anglo-Saxon  still  leads  the  van  of  luxurious  travel, 
but  it  is  the  younger  race  from  overseas,  and  it  is  the 
automobile  in  place  of  the  lumbering  coach  that  now 
swings  up  to  the  hotel  and  deposits  its  conglomerate 
load.  All  over  Europe  have  sprung  up  hotels  whose 
luxuriousness  is  a  direct  result  of  present-day  touring 
conditions  and  are  designed  to  match  the  luxury  that 
comes  driving  up  to  their  doors,  much  of  it  by  the 
automobile. 

What  follows  may  apply  for  the  most  part  to  any 
of  these  methods,  though  certain  it  is  the  freedom  that 
one  has  with  their  own  car  and  chauffeur  is  something 
more  considerable  than  if  tied  down  to  a  schedule 
bargained  for  in  a  renting  garage  or  the  whims  of  a 
stranger  chauffeur.  At  all  events,  in  France,  Ger- 
many, England  even,  or  in  Italy  one  is  sure  of  getting 


466      THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

fair  treatment  even  in  the  latter  case,  if  one  arrives 
at  a  clear  understanding  in  the  first  instance  at  any 
one  of  a  half-dozen  of  the  leading  garages  of  cities 
like  London,  Paris,  Berlin  or  Milan.  In  the  prov- 
inces, too,  one  could  doubtless  do  equally  well,  and 
for  twenty  to  twenty-five  dollars  a  day  be  practically 
the  owner  of  an  automobile  for  the  period  for  which 
it  is  contracted,  with  no  responsibilities  except  for 
the  payment  of  the  bills  as  rendered.  You  will  have 
no  question  of  repairs  to  consider,  nor  of  the  re- 
placing of  tires,  nor  the  cost  of  oil  or  gasolene,  which 
latter  becomes  petrol  in  England,  benzina  in  Italy, 
benzin  in  Germany  and  essence  in  France.  Usually 
the  chauffeur's  keep  is  at  the  charge  of  the  hirer,  but 
this  could  probably  be  arranged  for  by  a  lump  sum 
which  allowed  a  dollar  and  a  half  a  day  therefor  or 
a  little  more. 

Assuming  that  it  is  the  European  tour  in  general 
that  is  to  be  undertaken,  it  matters  not  so  much  as 
to  whether  the  object  of  the  tour  be  for  luxurious 
enjoyment  or  pleasurable  edification.  The  point  is 
what  one  may  get  for  the  time  and  money  expended. 
Actually  one  does  get  more  in  Europe  than  at  home, 
and  therein  lies  not  the  least  of  the  charms  of  foreign 
travel  by  automobile. 

It  is  for  the  woman  traveller  that  the  luxuries 
of  the  automobile  have  been  created.  She  can  tour 
Europe  as  comfortably  as  she  can  sit  in  her  own 
boudoir.  There  is  the  specially  constructed  tea- 
basket,  with  thermos  bottles,  if  she  wishes  to  have 
"  five  o'clock  "  en  route,  reading-lamps,  telephones, 


THE  WOMAN  AND  THE  CAR  467 

racks  for  books  and  papers,  every  conceivable  device 
for  intricate  baggage  arrangements. 

It  is  possible  in  the  present  automobile  trunks  to 
stow  away  In  perfect  safety  a  good-sized  wardrobe, 
such  as  Is  called  for  by  the  modern  exigencies  of 
fashionable  travel.  European  travel  is  as  much  of 
a  society  event  as  Newport  In  summer  or  the  Horse 
Show  In  winter,  and  the  lady  In  the  car  needs  a  varied 
lot  of  garments  (or  she  thinks  she  does)  ;  anyway, 
they  are  usually  the  chief  accessories  of  the  big  tour- 
ing car.  A  trunk,  a  suitcase,  a  dressing-case  bag,  a 
large  handbag  ought  to  satisfy  madame  en  route,  but 
the  question  of  hats  is  a  burning  one.  "  Where  can 
I  put  my  hat-box?  "  Is  woman's  first  question,  and  the 
chauffeur  spends  many  anxious  moments  trying  to 
adjust  the  relation  of  tires  and  hat-boxes. 

For  really  comfortable  travel  the  car  should  not 
be  overcrowded;  two  make  the  Ideal  touring  party. 
Theh  if  there  is  the  maid,  who,  as  a  rule,  sits  beside 
the  chauffeur,  her  luggage  can  be  got  down  to  a 
large  suitcase,  another  being  ample  for  the  chauffeur's 
needs. 

Extra  baggage  and  heavy  trunks  can  be  sent  on 
ahead  to  the  points  where  elaborate  clothes  will  be 
needed,  such  as  the  large  cities  or  the  resorts,  Aix- 
les-Bains,  the  Riviera,  the  German  spas,  and  the 
Palace  hotels  of  the  fashionable  watering-places. 
Thus  will  madame  be  prepared  for  the  social  round 
when  she  arrives  on  the  scene.  This  method  is  pre- 
ferable to  overloading  the  car  with  luggage,  which 
always  interferes  with  one's  personal  comfort. 


468      THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

The  thing  that  will  worry  the  woman  at  the  head  of 
a  retinue  such  as  this  will  probably  be  as  to  how  she 
shall  carry  her  jewels.  Indeed,  this  is  a  real  problem ; 
also  It  may  become  a  real  danger.  The  automobile 
may  attract  the  old-time  brigand  to  go  into  business 
again  If  this  keeps  up.  Still  madame  needs  her  jewels 
to  match  her  Paris  costumes,  and  the  Palace  hotels 
expect  one  to  live  up  to  their  names.  It  is  a  bad 
thing  to  intrust  the  jewels  to  the  care  of  the  maid, 
who,  as  is  the  habit  of  maids,  will  be  apt  to  lose  her 
head  and  the  jewel  case  at  the  same  time  in  the  many 
flittlngs  to  and  from  the  car  that  are  necessary  in 
the  course  of  the  day.  The  responsibility  of  a  lot  of 
diamonds  Is  enough  to  handicap  any  pleasure  tour. 

A  suggestion  might  be  made.  Have  a  small  safe 
built  in  under  the  seat  of  your  automobile  for  your 
jewel  case  and  other  valuables.  This  would  certainly 
be  better  than  leaving  them  to  the  uncertain  handbag 
care  of  yourself  or  your  maid.  Naturally  they 
should  be  taken  Into  the  hotel  at  night.  It  would  be, 
however,  the  part  of  wisdom  if  the  display  of  jewels 
were  limited  to  only  such  articles  as  might  be  of 
actual  use  for  the  voyage.  One  of  the  principal 
objects  of  pleasure  travel  is  to  get  rid  of  responsibility. 

One  does  not  need  a  five-foot  shelf  for  the  guide- 
books to  be  used  en  tour,  but  the  woman  who  inaugu- 
rates a  convenient  little  book-case  for  the  automobile 
will  do  a  real  service  to  the  cause  of  travelling.  There 
is,  of  course,  the  table,  which  can  be  let  down  not 
only  for  the  tea-basket,  but  also  for  the  more  im- 
portant duty,  on  which  to  spread  out  the  maps.     One 


From  the  Point  of  View  of  the  Cook 


•  •• 

•  ••• 

>•  •      • 


THE  WOMAN  AND  THE  CAR  469 

always  wants  to  follow  the  route  oneself,  or  ought 
to,  for  this  is  one  of  the  chief  joys  of  motoring. 

If  one  is  touring  between  the  great  resorts  in  the 
height  of  season  it  would  be  well  to  wire  ahead  for 
accommodations.  If  no  maid  or  courier  is  along — and 
in  truth  there  is  no  reason  why  there  should  be — the 
chauffeur — if  he  be  a  foreigner — could  attend  to  this 
as  well  as  arrange  for  the  desired  assortment  of  rooms 
on  arrival. 

With  regard  to  the  foreign  chauffeur  let  a  word  be 
said  right  here.  His  very  acquaintance  with  the  in- 
tricacies of  foreign  touring  gives  him  the  opportunity 
to  add  indirectly  to  his  profits  at  the  expense  of  his 
employers.  He  knows  all  the  subtleties  of  the 
"  commission  "  end  of  the  European  game,  which 
but  means  that  his  employers  pay  for  a  number  of 
things  that  they  have  no  need  of  and  at  advanced 
rates.  The  American  chauffeur,  with  his  ignorance 
of  the  language  and  of  conditions  generally,  will  not 
be  led  into  these  temptations;  he  will  not,  in  most 
cases,  understand  the  hints  thrown  out  to  make  money 
off  of  his  employers ;  moreover,  the  strangeness  of  his 
position  will  lead  him  to  siding  with  the  owners  of  the 
car  in  a  common  cause  in  a  foreign  land,  in  preference 
to  conspiring  against  them  with  the  wily  foreigner. 
If  he  can't  act  as  courier  he  will  at  least  be  more 
faithful  to  his  employer's  interests. 

The  automobile  has  made  possible  many  combina- 
tions of  tours  abroad  that  the  stage  coach  alone  in 
a  former  day  made  accessible.  The  coming  of  the 
railway  killed  much  of  the  romance  of  travel,  but  it 


470     THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

has  revived  wonderfully  under  the  regime  of  mechan- 
ical H.  P. 

England  is  lovely  as  a  touring  ground  from  all 
points  of  view,  but  It  soon  palls  on  one  after  they 
have  toured  the  west  to  Clovelly,  south  to  Canterbury 
and  Brighton,  up  the  Thames  Valley  to  Oxford  and 
Warwick,  and  north  or  west — ^about,  even  so  far  as 
the  Lake  District  or  the  Trossachs. 

After  that,  what?  Nothing  but  the  round  over 
again.  And  the  country  Inns?  They  have  been  de- 
lightful to  look  at  in  many  cases,  less  delightful  to 
sample  In  many  more,  and  expensive  every  one,  be- 
sides being  exceedingly  limited  In  what  they  have  to 
offer.  The  leafy  lanes  of  England  are  staglly  pretty 
and  road  surfaces  are  almost  Invariably  good  In  Eng- 
land and  Scotland  (less  so  In  Ireland).  It  has  been 
a  pleasure  indeed  to  roll  over  the  modern  Pllgrlm^s 
Way,  the  great  North  Road  of  coaching  days  and 
ways,  the  Bath  Road  of  storied  romance,  or  to  climb 
Snowdon  In  Wild  Wales,  but  after  all,  this  hallowed 
ground  is  already  so  familiar  that  the  automobile 
tourist,  even  woman.  In  England  unconsciously  pines 
for  a  larger  horizon,  a  grander  scale  and  more  quaint, 
exotic  surroundings  than  can  be  In  Britain. 

Sooner  or  later  things  are  bundled  on  board  a  cross- 
Channel  packet — one  is  not  even  obliged  to  crate  the 
automobile — and  you  fetch  up  In  the  delightful  land 
of  France,  certainly  the  most  practical  touring  ground 
for  automobiles  In  all  the  world. 

You  have  been  driving  to  the  left  In  Britain,  as  Is 
the  English  way,   and  now  at  last  think  you  will 


THE  WOMAN  AND  THE  CAR  471 

get  back  to  right-handedness.  This  is  not  so.  As 
these  lines  are  being  written  the  powers  that  be,  those 
who  are  responsible  for  the  making  and  the  upkeep 
of  the  good  roads  of  France  and  the  laws  governing 
them,  have  come  to  the  English  way  of  thinking,  and 
reversed  the  order  of  driving. 

In  France  a  whole  new  set  of  conditions  impose 
themselves  upon  the  owner  or  the  driver  of  an  auto- 
mobile. But  you  do  not  have  to  pay  a  tax  for  having 
a  device  painted  on  the  doors  of  your  automobile,  as 
you  do  in  England,  nor  another  tax  for  "  employing 
a  male  servant "  if  you  have  a  chauffeur  along — 
as  you  must  do  in  England — neither,  as  in  England, 
do  you  have  to  pay  an  internal  revenue  tax  for  driving 
a  car  on  the  roads.  You  are  free  to  do  what  you  will 
in  France  for  four  months,  and  may  even  make  what 
speed  you  like  so  long  as  you  do  not  bowl  over  any- 
thing in  your  path,  for  the  speed  limit  has  just 
recently  been  abolished,  too.  This  means  something 
in  the  land  of  good  roads  par  excellence. 

Supplies  for  the  automobile  are  dearer  in  France 
than  in  England,  but  hotels  are  cheaper  and  better, 
the  food  most  decidedly  so.  You  are  stuck  less  in 
this  land  of  the  "  foreigner  "  than  you  are  in  Anglo- 
Saxondom,  or  indeed  in  any  other  part  of  Europe. 

From  ten  to  twelve,  or  the  utmost,  fifteen  francs 
a  day  you  may  be  comfortably  fed  and  lodged  almost 
anywhere  along  the  highways  and  byways  of  France, 
excepting,  of  course,  in  the  resorts  like  Trouville, 
Aix-les-Bains,  Nice,  Cannes  or  Biarritz.  The  chauf- 
feur will  be  catered  for  at  a  considerably  less  figure, 


472     THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

and  you  will  have  no  charges  for  garage  for  the  night 
in  the  majority  of  instances. 

Normandy  and  Brittany  by  automobile  are  a  de- 
lightful fortnight's  itinerary,  and  the  hotels  and  roads 
are  better  in  the  former  than  in  the  latter.  Along 
the  valleys  of  the  Seine  and  Marne  and  Loire  (the 
latter  comprising  the  *' chateau  country")  are  many 
surprises  in  the  way  of  country  inns  and  their  attend- 
ant delights,  to  say  nothing  of  historic  and  romantic 
sights  and  scenes  which  will  give  the  woman  in  the 
car  a  new  outlook  on  life  from  what  she  may  have 
had  before,  even  though  she  may  have  had  some 
acquaintance  with  the  same,  arrived  at  by  a  more 
antiquated  mode  of  travel. 

Again  does  fashion  repeat  itself.  Just  as  in  the 
old  coaching  days  passengers  and  luggage  were  taken 
on  in  the  courtyard  of  the  inn,  so  does  one  often  enter 
and  leave  the  automobile  in  the  courtyard  of  the 
country  hotel,  away  from  the  fussy  crowd  that  usually 
gathers  and  gapes  around  in  the  open  street.  Many 
a  big  and  little  country  inn  has  its  cobble-stoned  in- 
terior court.  It  is  almost  the  universal  arrangement 
in  France,  in  the  old  towns  of  Germany  and  indeed 
all  over  Europe,  where  the  present-day  hotels  are 
direct  descendants  of  the  old  posting  houses.  In 
England  there  are  many  inn  courtyards  still  un- 
changed since  the  days  when  travel  was  by  the  over- 
balanced "  mail-coach,"  which  swerved  perilously 
along  over  hill  and  dale  and  through  narrow  village 
streets,  drawn  by  its  four  or  six  horses. 

Paris  and  its  environs  usually  form  a  part  of  any 


THE  WOMAN  AND  THE  CAR 


473 


European   automobile   itinerary,   but   there   Is   little 
pleasure  to  be  derived  until  one  Is  well  free  of  the 


^WIGNON 


awful  roads  which  immediately  surround  most  cities, 
and  which  with  regard  to  Paris  are  no  exception. 
Better  to  do  Versailles,  Saint  Germain  and  Fontaine- 


474      THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

bleau  by  train,  unless  one  could  take  the  former  In 
on  the  way  to  the  ''  chateau  country,"  and  the  latter 
en  route  to  Switzerland  or  the  Riviera. 

Vichy  and  Aix-les-Bains  may  be  Included  when 
bound  for  the  Riviera,  and  it  is  about  the  only  way 
they  can  be  worked  Into  any  comprehensive  tour  of 
France.  The  Riviera,  at  almost  any  time  between 
November  and  May,  Is  the  most  delightful  spot  on 
earth.  The  automobile  enhances  Its  charms,  though 
only  as  being  a  handy  means  of  exploring  the  moun- 
tain hinterland  of  the  maritime  Alps,  which  Is  hardly 
known  by  the  rank  and  fashion  which  spends  its  time 
tea-drlnking  and  bridge-playing  In  the  great  palace 
hotels  of  this  very  worldly  paradise. 

The  region  of  the  Pyrenees  from  the  Bay  of  Biscay 
to  the  Mediterranean  Is  another  nearly  perfect  auto- 
mobile touring  ground.  It  Is  comfortably  warm  in 
summer  and  not  cold  In  winter.  Seldom  are  the 
mountain  roads  snowed  under,  though  It  does  rain 
for  weeks  at  a  time  at  certain  periods,  when  a  dull 
sitting  away  of  one's  time  at  one  or  another  of  the 
tourist  hotels  of  Pau,  Luchon,  Biarritz  or  Cambo  im- 
poses Itself  upon  the  automobilist.  Roads  and  hotels 
are  of  the  very  first  rank,  so  altogether  the  region  is 
likely  to  become  more  and  more  popular. 

Spain,  as  an  automobiling  ground,  Is  not  to  be 
thought  of,  unless  one  Is  prepared  for  adventure.  In- 
convenience and  perhaps  occasional  hardship,  though 
possibly  no  real  danger.  The  customs  officials,  who 
take  your  deposit  as  you  cross  the  frontier,  may  keep 
it,  though  legally  they  are  bound  to  return  it  when 


THE  WOMAN  AND  THE  CAR 


475 


you  take  your  car  out  of  the  country,  but  it  may  take 
months  of  diplomacy  on  the  part  of  the  Department 
of  State  and  your  Embassy  at  Madrid  to  get  it  back 
again.  Unless  it  is  real  sport  you  are  looking  for, 
cut  out  Spain  from 
your  automobile  itiner- 
ary, for  the  fording 
of  streams  without 
bridges,  getting  tan- 
gled up  with  long 
rows  of  mule  trains 
and  the  mediocre  ho- 
tels, require  a  high 
development  of  the 
sporting  instinct. 

Switzerland  for  the 
automobilist  is  a  sort 
of  negative  blessing. 
There  are  some  good 
roads,  and  were  it  not 
for  seemingly  selfish 
interest  on  the  part  of  certain  local  communities, 
tourists  en  automobile  would  be  more  welcome  than 
they  are.  Certain  of  the  mountain  roads  are  closed 
to  automobiles,  and  practically  only  the  roads  over 
the  Passes  of  the  Arlberg,  the  Saint  Gothard  and 
the  Simplon  are  available  to  automobile  traffic.  One 
can  enter  at  Basle  or  Geneva  and  get  along  to  In- 
terlaken  and  Lucerne,  but  here  and  there  will  find  a 
side  road  blocked  to  them,  while  those  of  the  En- 
gadine    are    entirely    closed.      The    anti-automobile 


Frfncb-T+aliao^ 
rR  i\/  i  c  rtCTronXTa  r 


476     THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

attitude  Is  daily  becoming  more  and  more  pro- 
nounced in  Switzerland.  The  Swiss — that  nation  of 
hotel  keepers — fear  that  the  automobile  will  take 
the  tourist  too  rapidly  through  their  little  country, 
and  they  want,  too,  that  visitors  should  make  every 
use  of  their  government-owned  boats,  railways  and 
stage-coaches  rather  than  adopt  the  new  locomotion 
which  can  rush  them  through  the  little  mountain 
republic  in  one  day. 

Italy  is  the  ideally  romantic  touring  ground,  or 
was  with  those  of  a  former  generation,  but  to-day 
the  automobile  owner  or  driver — particularly  the 
woman  in  the  car — will  have  a  dozen  conflicting 
opinions  about  it.  Sometimes  the  opinion  Is  good, 
as  the  result  of  a  delightful  day,  and  again,  what  with 
a  hundred  kilometres  of  bad  road,  an  unsatisfactory 
meal  by  the  way  and  a  rather  scraggy  lodging  for 
the  night,  one  will  pine  for  the  good  cheer  of  the 
country  hotel  of  France  and  the  good  roads  of  that 
delightful  land.  Italy  should  be  gone  over  pretty 
closely  by  road  If  one  is  to  come  away  with  an  appre- 
ciation of  its  charms,  for  then,  and  then  only,  when 
the  average  of  the  good  things  you  have  run  across 
has  outdistanced  those  obviously  unsatisfactory,  will 
you  think  the  thing  worth  while.  The  story  is  dif- 
ferently told  by  those  who  have  debarked  with  their 
automobile  at  Naples  and  piked  across  to  Switzer- 
land in  three  days  of  pleasant  weather,  but  put  in  six 
weeks  of  touring  north,  east,  south  and  west,  as  fancy 
wills,  two-thirds  of  the  time  in  a  deluge,  and  quite 
another  viewpoint  will  be  opened  up.     When  the  gon- 


THE  WOMAN  AND  THE  CAR  477 

dolas,  tied  to  quays  at  Venice,  fill  with  water  In  a 
night  and  sink,  one  thinks  there  is  too  much  dampness 
about  to  make  automoblling  enjoyable,  even  though 
their  land  gondola  is  safely  quartered  in  the  garage 
at  Mestre,  half  a  dozen  miles  away,  as  near  as  one 
may  get  to  Venice  by  automobile. 

The  region  of  the  Italian  lakes  offers  much  of 
charm  to  the  traveller  by  road,  but  the  hotels  that 
one  patronises  are  not  of  the  humble  order,  and  there 
is  little  of  the  romantic  simplicity  that  one  usually 
associates  with  Italy.  The  kind  is  that  which  was 
conceived  solely  for  the  tourist,  and  from  that  point 
of  view  are  satisfactory  enough.  The  roads  here  are 
good,  the  best  In  Italy. 

Austria  Is  doing  much  these  days  to  attract  the 
automobile  tourist,  and  as  the  region  of  the  Dolomites 
and  the  Austrian  Tyrol  is  quite  as  lovely  as  the  Swiss 
Alps,  and  the  people  far  more  friendly,  the  motor 
traffic  from  Italy,  northward  over  the  Austro-Italian 
mountain  passes.  Is  heavy  and  Is  Increasing  in  volume 
with  every  season. 

Automoblling  in  the  mountain  region  of  Tyrol 
presents  a  combination  of  delights  which  is  unusual. 
There  are  good  roads,  imposing  mountain  peaks  on 
all  sides,  thrilling  hair-pin  turns  on  the  roads  over 
the  passes  and  a  primitlveness  of  countryside  sights 
and  scenes  which  is  in  strong  contrast  to  the  modernity 
with  which  one  comes  up  at  night  in  their  hotel  at 
Innsbruck  and  many  other  stopping  places,  which  are 
frankly  tourist  resorts  and  nothing  else,  so  far  as 
catering  to  the  stranger  goes. 


478      THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

Eastward  to  Vienna  is  a  long  pull,  but  worth  it  if 
one  has  the  time;  so  is  Dalmatia  if  one  has  the  time, 
the  money  and  the  nerve.  Here  things  are  few  and 
far  between,  but  as  much  exotic  as  the  Chinese  walls; 
expensive,  and  fraught  with  considerable  inconveni- 


IrxTbeVallcy 

ence  and  some  danger  now  that  the  Near  East  is  all 
but  aflame  with  revolution. 

Germany  in  general,  at  least  along  the  grand  lines 
of  communication,  is  good  touring  ground,  and  in 
the  Black  Forest  region  and  down  the  Rhine  one 
covers  classic  ground. 

The  road  by  the  Rhine  runs  on  either  side  and  in 
more  ways  than  one  partakes  of  those  of  France, 


THE  WOMAN  AND  THE  CAR  479 

though  It  Is  not  for  good  roads  that  one  comes  this 
way;  better  one  should  be  content  with  the  glamour 
of  romance  which  still  hangs  over  the  Teuton's  be- 
loved river  from  Scaffhausen  down  through  BIngen 
and  Cologne  to  tidewater,  where  It  mingles  with  the 
cold,  green  seas  of  the  German  Ocean. 

Holland  and  Belgium  are  hardly  the  most  suitable 
automobile  touring  grounds  In  Europe,  the  former 
because,  as  one  intrepid  young  American  woman  who 
drove  her  own  car  once  said,  you  are  liable  to  forget 
and  run  overboard  on  one  edge  of  the  country  or  the 
other.  All  the  same  the  brick  roads  of  Holland, 
running  their  many  straight  miles  along  the  banks  of 
canals  or  through  polders  gay  with  massed  blossoms 
of  tulips  or  hyacinths,  make  smooth  going  for  the 
motor  car.  One  does  have  to  pull  up  every  once 
and  again  to  allow  a  sluggish  canal  barge  to  idle 
by  whilst  a  bridge  Is  being  swung,  but  canals  and 
bridges  and  barges,  like  the  spotted  cows,  fat  little 
Dutchmen  and  women  and  windmills  and  cheeses,  are 
some  of  the  things  for  which  one  comes  to  Holland, 
so  why  overwork  your  automobile  in  a  rush  to  get 
away. 

Belgian  roads  are  vile,  at  least  those  that  are  not 
good,  and  the  former  are  in  the  majority.  Here 
and  there  are  some  good  stretches,  main  routes  mostly, 
but  the  crossroads  are  something  incomprehensibly 
bad,  being  paved  with  large,  uneven  blocks  of  stone 
which  must  have  been  laid  centuries  ago.  There 
is  considerable  enjoyment  to  be  got  out  of  touring 
Belgium,  even  though  the  country  is  not  large  and 


48o      THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

the  roads  are  as  bad  as  they  are.  Particularly  are 
some  new  sensations  to  be  acquired  in  journeying  up 
the  valley  of  the  Muse  to  Dinant,  where  perhaps 
you  may  even  find  a  piece  of  the  fine  old  dinanderie 
copperware,  which  will  well  repay  you  for  the  trouble 
of  coming  this  way. 

The  north  African  itinerary,  from  Algiers  to  Tunis, 
is  the  most  exotic  motor  touring  ground  open  to 
traffic  to-day.  Roads  excellent,  hotels  of  a  passable 
kind — meaning,  in  this  case,  that  if  they  are  crude 
they  are  at  least  founded  on  the  best  of  French  tra- 
ditions. You  will  perhaps  garage  your  automobile 
in  a  compound  with  a  herd  of  camels,  and  once  and 
again  if  you  stray  ofi  into  the  desert  you  may  sink 
hub  deep  in  sand,  but  on  the  whole,  the  novelty  of 
it  will  make  up  for  any  inconvenience,  and  no  great 
hardships  or  thrilling  adventures  need  be  looked  for. 

The  sum  of  European  road  travels  for  the  woman 
automobilist  will  be  the  realisation  that  it  is  a  sport 
for  women  as  well  as  man.  Take  your  own  automo- 
bile with  your  own  driver,  or  another  hired  on  advan- 
tageous terms,  and  one  may  have  a  vagabondage  so 
greatly  to  the  liking  that  it  will  be  hard  to  stop. 
Don't  scorch;  leave  that  to  the  brief  visit  which  the 
man  may  make  to  you.  If  he  wants  to  be  taken  across 
Europe  In  a  hurry,  take  him,  and  then  turn  In  your 
tracks  and  do  the  same  thing  over  again,  or  some- 
thing different,  at  a  moderate  speed,  and  you  will 
think  that  you  never  had  quite  so  enjoyable  an  out- 
ing in  all  your  life. 


^--^r^  FRANCE  ,^=^   , 


STIMULATOR    OF    MODERN    EUROPEAN    TRAVEL 

BENEFITS  THE  AMERICAN 

GROWTH  OF  THE  CLUB 

NATIONAL  GOVERNMENT  INSTITUTION 

WORK  OF  THE  T.  C.  F. 

INFLUENCE   OUTSIDE    FRANCE 

ORGANIZATION  OF  THE  T.   C.    F. 

BENEFITS  TO  THE  WOMAN  TRAVELLER 

SCHOOL  FOR  THE   FRENCH   HOTEL  KEEPER 

CAMPAIGN  OF  HYGIENE 

"  CHAMBRES  HYGIENIQUES  " 

T.  C.  F.  THE  traveller's  FRIEND 

ITS  HELP  TO  THE  AUTOMOBILIST 

GUIDE-ANNUAIRE 

THREE  THOUSAND  T.  C.  F.  HOTELS 

ITS  PARIS  CLUBHOUSE 

TRANSFORMING  FRENCH   HOTELS 

SIGN  OF  THE  GOOD  HOTEL 

PRESERVATION  OF  LANDMARKS 

AID  TO  GOOD  ROADS 

BUILDING  A  ROADWAY 

T.  C.  F.  AND  THE  SMALL  HOTEL 

THE  WOMAN  MEMBER 

TOURING  INFORMATION 

GUIDE   MAPS,   ETC. 


XX 


THE  TOURING  CLUB   DE   FRANCE  AND 
HOW  IT  AIDS  THE  TRAVELLER 

The  famous  Touring  Club  de  France  has  been  the 
great  stimulator  of  modern  travel  in  that  happy  land. 
Incidentally  it  has  encouraged  and  braced  up  the 
languishing  fortunes  of  the  country  innkeeper  by  a 
beneficent  administration  whose  blessings  have  fallen 
upon  the  traveller  and  Boniface  alike  in  a  manner 
that  gives  each  much  to  be  thankful  for.  It  was 
quick  to  see  that  the  custom  of  travel  by  road  of  the 
days  of  the  malle-poste  and  the  post-chaise  was  return- 
ing with  the  advent  of  the  bicycle  and  the  automobile, 
and  forthwith  the  innkeeper  of  the  country  town  was 
encouraged  to  meet  the  conditions  imposed  by  his 
new  clientele  in  an  adequate  manner. 

The  innkeeper  himself  might  not  have  known  how 
to  read  the  signs  of  the  times  unless  the  formula  was 
given  him,  but  he  embraced  the  opportunity  that 
offered  gladly,  and  to-day  three  thousand  of  him  and 
his  fellows  scattered  all  over  the  country  have  a 
ready,  new-made  set  of  customers  calling  at  their 
doors,  and  paying  liberally,  though  not  extravagantly, 
for  the  good  cheer  that  is  offered  them.  With  the 
coming  of  his  new  fortunes  there  might  have  been 
danger  that  he  would  kill  the  goose  that  had  just 

483 


484      THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

begun  to  lay  golden  eggs  again,  but  he  was  encour- 
aged to  believe  that  his  best  advertisement  would 
come  from  this  new  clientele,  and  up  to  now  he  has 
treated  his  members  more  fairly  than  the  hoteliers 
of  any  other  nation. 

The  Touring  Club  de  France  is  an  association  of 
public-spirited  Frenchmen  whose  prime  devotion  is 
the  development  of  le  tourisme  in  their  own  delightful 
land,  though  by  no  means  do  their  efforts  stop  there, 
for  they  seek  to  make  plain  sailing  for  their  fellow- 
Frenchmen  when  they  go  beyond  the  frontiers  and 
across  the  seas.  In  this  connection  it  may  be  inter- 
esting to  note  that  Americans,  by  a  simple  formula, 
may  affiliate  with  this  admirable  organisation,  with 
the  result  that  they  will  have  reason  to  bless  the  genius 
who  instigated  it  for  the  real  service  that  it  will  offer 
them,  whether  they  be  mere  tourists  or  dwellers  in 
the  country. 

Originally  the  club  was  of  most  modest  propor- 
tions, but,  with  the  avowed  object  of  making  travel- 
ling easy  and  economical  for  its  members,  it  has,  in 
twenty  years,  grown  like  the  proverbial  snowball, 
from  a  meagre  three  thousand  members  at  the  end 
of  its  first  year  of  existence,  to  a  membership  of 
nearly  one  hundred  and  fifty  thousand.  It  has  for 
its  honorific  head  the  President  of  the  French  Repub- 
lic, and  has  become  a  national  government-recognised 
institution  by  decree,  by  which  it  is  known  as  an 
Association  for  the  Public  Good.  This  means  that 
it  has  all  the  backing  and  political  influence  which  is, 
or  ever  will  be,  necessary  in  order  to  make  known  the 


TOURING  CLUB  DE  FRANCE  485 

glories  of  France  to  travellers  of  all  the  world.  The 
paternahsm  of  the  French  Government  is  much  to  be 
appreciated  as  a  noble  motive,  but  actually  the  saga- 
cious French  know  that  it  will  return  its  cost  tenfold. 
France,  outside  of  Paris,  the  "  chateau  country  '*  and 
the  Riviera  resorts,  has  not  been  "  toured  *'  to  the 
limit  as  have  Switzerland  and  Italy,  though  the  utter- 
most corners  are  fast  becoming  known  to  genuine 
vagabond  travellers,  until  to-day  one  is  as  likely  to 
see  at  Saint  Jean  Pied  du  Port,  in  the  heart  of  the 
Basque  country,  Americans  singly  or  in  couples,  as 
they  are  to  find  them  footing  it  over  the  Tuscan  hills. 

The  paternal  interest  of  the  Government  in  en- 
couraging the  development  of  the  T.  C.  F.  is  not  a 
phase  of  communism,  but  a  sort  of  national  backing- 
up  of  the  projects  of  a  nation-wide  institution,  even 
though  it  was  born  in  the  brain  of  an  individual. 

The  club  owns  to  a  virtual  government  organisa- 
tion in  miniature,  with  a  Cabinet  of  Executives,  who 
set  the  machinery  of  various  departments  in  motion 
and  launch  from  time  to  time  projects  tending  to 
ameliorate  touring  conditions  in  France,  going  so  far 
even  at  times  as  to  enter  the  field  of  politics  and  do 
a  little  lobbying  in  legislative  halls.  There  has  never 
been  a  suspicion  of  graft  attached  to  its  methods,  and 
this  is  in  its  favour,  too.  The  club  was  one  of  the 
prime  movers  in  establishing  that  French  classical 
school  for  hotel  keepers  which  is  intended  to  forestall 
the  rising  wave  of  German-Swiss  methods,  which  are 
fast  engulfing  the  hotels  of  many  of  the  resorts  even 
in  France.     This  it  combats  also  in  another  way, 


486      THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

handing  out  freely  much  practical  advice  and  assist- 
ance intended  to  better  conditions  for  the  country 
hotel  keeper,  and  add  to  the  satisfaction  and  comfort 
of  the  traveller  who  lodges  beneath  his  roof. 

It  suggests  and  aids  in  the  betterment  and  upkeep 
of  roads,  going  so  far  in  some  Instances  as  to  actually 
designate  a  prolongation  of  a  mountain  road  which 
would  add  considerably  to  the  prosperity  of  the 
region,  but  which  has  hitherto  been  neglected,  owing 
to  less  needed  but  more  Insistent  demands  elsewhere. 
The  preservation  of  historic  sights  and  monuments 
has  been  not  the  least  commendable  of  Its  works,  and 
solely  by  its  own  initiative  the  club  has  caused  to  be 
developed  that  famous  National  Park  of  the  Esterels, 
bounded  by  a  forty  kilometre  strip  of  ocean  side 
roadway  on  the  Riviera,  known  as  the  Cornlche  d'Or, 
a  shelf-like,  cornice-built  roadway,  overlooking  the 
blue  waters  of  the  Mediterranean  between  Saint 
Raphael  and  Cannes  In  southern  France.  This  road- 
way is  the  paradise  of  automobllists  in  the  region  of 
the  world's  most  famous  winter  playground. 

The  club  has  recently  published  the  detailed  plans 
of  a  mountain  chalet,  a  hotel  of  modest  proportions, 
which  may  be  readily  erected  in  any  undeveloped 
Alpine  beauty  spot.  It  Is  hoped  that  the  ultimate 
adoption  of  the  scheme  will  some  day  result  in  the 
Alps  of  Dauphiny  and  Savoy  rivalling  Switzerland 
in  the  facilities  and  accommodations  offered  the  tour- 
ist. Three  prime  features  impose  themselves  upon 
such  a  scheme;  that  these  modern  mountain  rest- 
houses  shall  be  frequent,  reasonable  in  price  and  ex- 


TOURING  CLUB  DE  FRANCE  487 

cellent  in  what  they  have  to  offer,  if  not  luxurious. 
To  this  end  the  club  has  often  gone  to  the  trouble 
to  find  capital  for  some  enterprise  which  hitherto 
lacked  funds  for  exploitation. 

It  is  readily  seen  from  this  that  the  labours  of  this 
formidable  organisation  are  not  for  the  benefit  of  one 
class  of  individuals  alone,  but  for  all,  not  for  the 
innkeepers  of  one  region,  nor  for  travellers  of  French 
nationality  alone,  but  for  the  benefit  of  all  France 
and  for  the  traveller  from  the  utmost  corners  of  the 
world  when  he  crosses  the  land  by  rail  or  road  or 
aeroplane.  The  ramifications  of  the  influence  of  the 
club  go  to  the  farthermost  French  colonies  and,  if 
you  are  a  member  therof,  you  will  reap  the  benefits 
as  greatly  in  Cambodia  as  in  Touraine ;  furthermore, 
its  afliliated  hotels  and  delegates  are  found  in  all  the 
chief  centres  of  Continental  Europe,  even  at  Cairo 
and  in  Constantinople. 

The  various  club  committees  are  so  numerous  and 
potent  that  they  are  doing  the  work  which  in  many 
other  lands  is  being  done,  or  ought  to  be  done,  by 
Governmental  Departments  devoted  to  the  same  end. 
The  spirit  is  national  through  and  through.  There 
is  never  a  question  of  local  interest  arising  in  France 
but  that  the  T.  C.  F.  will  voluntarily  lend  its  aid 
in  furthering  that  solidarity  of  patriotism  and  the 
love  of  ''  l/a>  belle  France  ^'  which  shall  assure  its 
ultimate  success. 

The  woman  traveller  benefits  as  largely  as  any 
other  class  from  the  good  work  that  the  Touring 
Club  de  France  has  done  with  respect  to  putting  the 


488      THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

country  hotels  on  a  plane  where  they  are  wholly  to 
be  appreciated.  Their  best  aspect  has  ever  been  that 
their  fare  was  admirable  as  to  quality,  excellently 
cooked  and  the  price  therefor  most  reasonable ;  when 
it  came  to  the  accommodations  offered  the  wayfarer, 
the  lone  woman  traveller  often  had  misgivings  as  to 
the  propriety  of  lodging  beneath  its  roof.  This  was 
born  of  misunderstanding,  which  was  in  part  justi- 
fiable, though  actually  the  question  of  propriety  with 
respect  to  a  French  country  hotel  ought  never  to  have 
been  raised.  A  certain  disorderliness,  not  to  say 
shabbiness,  was  often  apparent,  and  this  worked  to 
the  detriment  of  many  a  really  excellently  endowed 
small  hotel.  The  T.  C.  F.,  seizing  upon  this,  sought 
to  bring  the  various  attributes  of  the  century-old  hotel 
of  compromising  countenance  up  to  the  level  of  the 
product  so  temptingly  prepared  in  the  great  hooded 
fireplace  of  its  kitchen.  The  problem  was  solved  in 
the  twinkling  of  an  eye,  and  very  few  small  hotels 
of  France  to-day  on  the  beaten  track,  and  not  many 
off,  will  offend  the  most  exacting  of  travellers,  who 
will  make  due  allowance  for  the  fact  that  things 
are  not  as  they  are  at  home,  nor  can  they  be  expected 
to  be. 

One  department  of  the  club  studies  the  question  of 
the  hygienic  fitting  up  and  installation  of  the  country 
hotel.  In  this  respect  it  had  practically  virgin  soil 
to  work  on  in  France,  for  the  deficiencies  of  the  small 
country  hotel  were  a  marvel  of  disgust  to  the  much 
travelled  person  of  a  generation  or  so  ago.  The 
club  has  invented,  or  at  least  developed,  the  ''  chambre 


TOURING  CLUB  DE  FRANCE  489 

hygienique/^  a  sleeping  apartment  furnished  on  the 
most  modern  of  sanitary  lines  as  contrasted  with  what 
it  was  before.  Gone  is  the  old-fashioned  coffin-like 
bed,  heavy-draped  windows  and  mantelpieces  which 
were  depressing  even  in  design,  and  doubly  so  when 
faded,  old  and  dirty — and  they  were  Impossible  to 
keep  clean.  There  was  perhaps  not  filthiness,  but 
there  was  a  disorderly  aspect  that  amounted  to  about 
the  same  thing  as  far  as  its  effect  upon  one  was 
concerned. 

The  hotel  correspondence  bureau  of  the  club  turns 
out  twenty  thousand  letters  a  year  in  response  to 
Inquiries,  and  also  prints  an  enamelled  tin  sign  which 
It  presents  gratis  to  any  hotelier  who  may  ask  for  It, 
admonishing  the  users  of  the  toilet  rooms  to  leave 
them  "  aussi  propre ''  as  they  may  have  found  them. 
This  may  seem  ridiculous  to  the  American  at  home, 
but  not  so  to  he  or  she  who  has  travelled  In 
France. 

The  T.  C.  F.  sign  hanging  before  the  doors  of 
more  than  three  thousand  affiliated  French  hotels  Is 
an  eloquent  argument  of  the  principles  laid  down  by 
the  club. 

To  pass  to  the  sentimental  side,  no  historic  spot 
Is  desecrated  by  vandal  picknickers,  no  celebrated 
shrine  of  history  or  art  Is  torn  down  or  turned  Into  a 
rag-shop  or  a  bar-room,  nor  are  the  great  trees  of 
some  classic  wlldwood,  where  roam  the  stag  and  boar 
yet,  as  they  did  In  the  reigns  of  Henri  IV  and  Frangols 
Premier,  pillaged  to  make  firewood  or  cottage  fur- 
niture, but  that  the  T.  C.  F.  protests  and  puts  a  stop 


490      THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

thereto.  The  extent  to  which  the  club  may  yet  go 
with  regard  to  proposing,  or  solving,  burning  ques- 
tions which  seem  to  concern  the  various  departments 
of  the  national  government  little  or  not  at  all,  can 
hardly  be  foreseen  if  its  powers  gain  strength  in  the 
next  decade  as  rapidly  as  they  have  in  the  past,  and 
the  membership  reaches  the  quarter  of  a  million  mark, 
as  is  likely. 

The  Touring  Club  de  France  offers  its  members 
for  a  dollar  a  year  the  privilege  of  patronising  its 
three  thousand  affiliated  hotels  at  a  special  '^  prix 
de  faveur^^  a  certain  discount  varying  from  five 
to  fifteen  per  cent  being  allowed  members  in 
good  standing.  It  secures  also  certain  reductions 
for  its  members  on  trains  and  boats,  eliminates 
Custom  House  difficulties  and  dues  when  crossing  the 
frontiers,  and  by  the  celebrated  "  tryptich  " — ^which 
it  invented — passes  the  automobilist  across  first  one 
European  frontier  and  then  another,  after  his  once 
having  deposited  the  "  guarantee "  with  the  club 
that  he  will  ultimately  bring  his  machine  back 
again. 

The  club  publishes  a  series  of  beautifully  designed 
and  printed  road  maps,  perhaps  the  finest  works  of 
their  kind  ever  produced,  and  supplies,  at  a  substan- 
tial discount,  any  and  all  maps,  plans  and  guides 
wherever  published. 

Its  Guide-Annuaire,  or  hotel  directory,  is  a  most 
useful  book  for  the  traveller  in  France.  It  is  worth 
all  the  Baedekers,  Joannes  and  Murrays  rolled  into 
one  so  far  as  the  quality  and  quantity  of  information 


A  Country  Hotel  of  France 


TOURING  CLUB  DE  FRANCE  491 

as  to  French  hotels  Is  concerned.  It  gives  prices  in 
detail  of  all  the  affiliated  hotels,  a  little  zig-zag  imi- 
tation of  a  ray  of  lightning  signifies  that  there  is 
electricity,  a  little  black  rectangle  that  there  is  a  dark 
room  for  the  photographer,  a  monkey-wrench  that 
there  is  a  pit  and  a  work-shop  and  garage  at  the  dis- 
position of  the  autoist,  and  a  crossed  knife  and  fork 
that  the  hotel  is  noted  for  the  excellence  of  the  table, 
with  a  similar  distinguishing  mark  denoting  good 
beds. 

It  notes  further  where  certain  specialties  among 
the  good  things  of  the  table  for  which  France  Is 
noted  are  to  be  had.  One  may,  by  the  aid  of  this 
excellent  guide,  before  starting  out,  make  up  a  sort 
of  gastronomic  tour  of  France.  One  goes  to  Rouen 
for  duck  and  peas,  to  Dieppe  for  fried  sole,  to 
Toulon  for  mussels,  to  Concarneau  for  fried  fresh 
sardines,  Bayonne  for  its  famous  hams,  Marseilles  for 
bouillabaisse,  Toulouse  for  capons,  Pithiviers  for  lark 
pies  and  Perigueux  for  truffles,  and  so  on.  It  is 
another  reason  for  being  for  the  little  tour  in  France 
which  was  made  popular  by  Henry  James  a  quarter 
of  a  century  ago,  and  is  in  no  way  of  losing  Its  popu- 
larity. 

Besides  all  this  the  club,  by  the  means  of  its 
magnificent  library  and  Its  staff  of  librarians  at  its 
imposing  club  house  on  the  Avenue  de  la  Grande 
Armee  at  Paris,  can  give  one  world-wide  travel  in- 
formation, or  may  consult  yourself  its  exceedingly 
complete  collection  of  road  maps  and  guides  in  a 
manner   far  more   comfortable   than   in   any   other 


492      THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

library  in  the  world,  more  comfortably  even  than  in 
the  British  Museum  in  London  or  at  the  Bibliotheque 
Nationale  in  Paris. 

A  few  years  since  the  gossiping  world  of  Paris  was 
in  an  uproar  over  the  notorious  "  Humbert  affair," 
wherein  one  known  as  "  La  Grande  Therese,"  got 
inextricably  mixed  up  with  a  certain  number  of 
mythical  millions,  and  became  so  involved  that  her 
magnificent  town  house,  her  hotel  prive  in  the  Avenue 
de  la  Grande  Armee,  was  forced  upon  the  market 
by  an  unfeeling  decree  of  the  court,  and  actually 
went  begging  for  a  purchaser.  This  was  perhaps 
caused  by  the  fact  that  the  decree  went  into  operation 
during  the  silly  season  of  August,  when  everybody 
but  three  and  three-quarter  millions  of  the  population 
were  out  of  town.  A  few  of  the  club  officials  hap- 
pened to  be  enjoying  Paris  in  summer,  and  as  at  a 
meeting  held  just  previously  it  had  been  decided  to 
look  for  a  new  location,  as  a  change  from  its  crowded 
quarters  in  a  couple  of  tiny  rooms  over  a  cafe  in  the 
Place  de  la  Bourse,  they  bethought  themselves  of 
acquiring  this  pretentious  but  very  elegantly  appointed 
Paris  mansion. 

It  was  rather  a  large  and  soiled  parcel  of  linen 
that  the  court  set  about  to  bundle  up,  and  thus,  with 
a  little  ready  cash  to  spare,  the  club  was  able  to  buy 
in  the  property  for  a  mere  nothing.  Actually,  the 
creditors  of  the  Humberts  got  very  little  little,  but 
the  court  fees  and  the  lawyers  were  paid,  and  the 
Touring  Club  de  France,  with  membership  at  a  dol- 
lar a  year,  came  to  be  housed  more  luxuriously  than 


TOURING  CLUB  DE  FRANCE  493 

many  a  club  that  has  difficulty  In  collecting  Its  hun- 
dred-dollar-a-year  dues  from  delinquent  members. 

To-day  where  once  the  pseudo-fashionable  crowd 
of  Humbert  hangers-on  once  stalked  through  marble 
halls,  the  plebeian  members  of  the  T.  C.  F.  assemble 
and  call  their  own  town  house.  You  may  be  a  mere 
globe-trotter,  a  bicyclist,  an  automobilist  or  a  yachts- 
man, but  all  the  same,  once  elected  a  member,  you 
may  get  here  for  five  francs  a  year,  or  six  if  you  are 
a  foreigner,  what  you  may  not  get  elsewhere  on  earth. 

France  is  the  land  of  good  cooks,  and  we  know  it 
and  love  it  for  that,  if  not  for  other  things  as  well, 
and  to  this  end  the  Touring  Club  de  France  is  making 
it  more  attractive  than  ever  with  the  precepts  which 
it  is  distributing  broadcast  to  the  Innkeeper.  It  was 
not  enough  to  counsel  him  to  keep  up  the  traditions 
of  the  table.  The  doctrine  of  cleanliness  and  airi- 
ness Is  being  preached  on  all  sides,  and  reasonableness 
In  price ;  above  all,  not  to  exploit  the  stranger  because 
he  Is  a  stranger  and  may  not  come  that  way  again. 

With  all  his  ability  at  turning  out  a  meal  of  ex- 
cellence the  French  country  chef  often  did  it  formerly 
under  most  disagreeable,  uncomfortable  and  incon- 
venient conditions.  Now  all  is  changed  In  the  French 
countryside,  and  in  many  of  the  large  towns  as  well, 
where  deficiencies  were  often  quite  as  much  to  be 
remarked. 

The  good  work  of  the  club  has  made  itself  felt  In 
many  quarters,  and  often  in  the  tiniest  of  towns  one 
or  more  innkeepers  vie  with  one  another  as  being 
privileged  to  hang  out  the  sign  of  the  T.  C  F,  before 


494      THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

their  portes<ocheres.  This  has  made  competing  es- 
tablishments brace  up,  too,  and  now  the  ill-kept, 
dingy  and  unappealing  inn  frequently  met  with  in 
the  French  town  as  late  as  a  decade  ago  is  a  thing 
of  the  past  on  the  beaten  track,  and  mostly  is  this  true 
farther  afield  as  well. 

The  hygienic  sleeping-rooms  (the  chamhres  hygien- 
iques  popularised  by  the  T.  C.  F.)  were  needed  badly 
all  over  France,  both  in  the  cities  and  towns  alike, 
where  only  too  often  a  bedroom  was  but  a  mere  cup- 
board opening  on  some  dingy,  unsanitary  courtyard. 
Now,  where  the  club's  admonitions  have  been  fol- 
lowed, all  is  white  lacquer  on  the  walls,  scrim  curtains 
at  the  windows,  with  iron  or  brass  beds  replacing  the 
upholstered  abominations  of  other  days.  The  house- 
wife will  appreciate  all  this,  and  those  who  have 
studied  the  necessity  of  well-living  as  an  adjunct  to 
well-being  will  appreciate  the  fact  that  the  club  has 
printed  for  free  distribution  a  series  of  specific  rules 
for  hotel  keepers  who  can  be  induced  to  remodel  their 
establishments  as  to  the  volume  of  cubic  contents  of 
each  sleeping-room  as  well  as  the  area  and  position 
of  the  windows,  the  height  to  ceiling,  nature  of  wall 
decorations,  floor  coverings  and  even  the  size  of  the 
wash-basins.  Frequently  an  old  hotel  has  built  on 
an  addition  conforming  to  these  requirements,  or,  as 
far  as  possible,  remodelled  its  old  form. 

Trade  follows  the  flag  as  well  in  the  hotel  business 
as  in  the  affairs  of  the  nation,  and  let  a  good  country 
inn  be  found  midway  between  Macon  and  Dijon  in 
the  famous  Burgundy  wine  district^  and  the  touring 


TOURING  CLUB  DE  FRANCE  495 

automobllist  bound  for  Switzerland  or  RIvierawards 
will  stop  there  for  his  dejeuner  instead  of  pushing 
on  to  the  next  large  town,  which  he  often  wrongly 
assumes  as  able  to  supply  something  more  to  his 
liking  than  can  be  found  in  a  place  lettered  less  large 
on  the  maps. 

The  hotel  industry  all  over  France  is,  by  the 
earnestness  of  the  efforts  of  the  Touring  Club  de 
France,  conforming  to  the  new  order  of  things,  and 
prosperity  which  had  languished  for  generations  is 
now  coming  to  many  a  quaint  old  posting  inn  of 
some  market  town  in  the  Cote  d'Or  or  by  the  banks 
of  the  Rhone,  which  since  the  advent  of  the  railway 
and  the  days  of  Monte  Cristo  had  fallen  into 
desuetude. 

Sometimes,  where  the  thing  was  needed  badly,  the 
Touring  Club  has  gone  ahead  at  its  own  expense  and 
established  up-to-date  sanitary  fittings  in  ;some  likely 
hotel  In  a  much-travelled  region,  as  in  some  little 
town  In  the  "  chateau  country  "  of  the  Loire,  with  the 
result  that  the  knowledge  of  the  existence  of  these 
things  In  their  midst  has  given  other  innkeepers  an 
inducement  to  brace  up  for  fear  that  business  would 
pass  them  by  if  they,  too,  did  not  meet  the  new  con- 
ditions and  demands  of  twentieth-century  travel. 
The  bathroom  Is  still  chiefly  wanting  in  French  hotels, 
excepting  those  of  the  cities,  the  big  towns  and  the 
resorts.  Beyond  these  it  is  still  considered  as  a  sort 
of  super-luxury,  and  when  found,  wherever  found  In 
France,  in  fact,  one  pays  the  price,  almost  the  level 
of  American  prices,     There  is  nothing  cheap  about 


496      THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

a  bath  in  France.  Perhaps  it  is  for  this  that  one 
still  sees  an  occasional  Englishman  crossing  Paris 
from  the  Gare  de  Nord  to  the  Gare  de  Lyon,  with 
his  tin  dish  bath-tub  strapped  tightly  down  with  his 
trunks  on  top  of  his  taxi-auto.  This  is  not  exagger- 
ated fancy;  one  may  see  the  same  ludicrous  sight 
almost  any  day. 

The  force  of  example  was  never  better  exemplified 
than  in  the  transformation  of  a  certain  aspect  of 
the  French  hotel  industry  as  brought  about  by  the 
T.  C.  F.  Its  sign  before  the  door  of  a  hotel  means 
to  the  traveller,  even  though  he  be  a  stranger  in  a 
strange  land,  good  beds,  good  cooking,  cleanliness, 
reasonable  prices  and  generous  treatment.  And  all 
this  without  the  loss  of  the  picturesque  element  of 
local  character,  which  is  what  many  of  us  travel  for. 
The  ancient  posting  inn  has  been  cleaned  up,  re- 
painted and  remodelled  a  bit,  but  its  artistic  out- 
lines are  still  there,  and  the  stable  yard  and  the  stables, 
if  peopled  less  romantically  by  automobiles  of  steel 
and  brass  and  aluminum  than  in  the  days  of  the  coach 
and  four  and  the  berlin-de-voyage  in  which  our 
grandfathers  travelled,  serves  its  purpose  quite  as 
well  as  of  old. 

This  came  but  slowly,  but  the  ultimate  transforma- 
tion, or  at  least  modernising,  of  the  old  houses  which 
bore  such  names  as  the  "  ficu  d'Or,"  "  Grand  Mo- 
narque,"  or  "  Belle  fitoile,"  which  abounded  in  the 
good  old  monarchial  days  of  the  empire,  has  banished 
stuffed  chairs  and  sofas  of  horse-hair  or  mangy  red 
plush  or  green  rep,  as  well  as  the  moth-eaten  bear  or 


TOURING  CLUB  DE  FRANCE  497 

wolf  skins  which  served  for  descents  de  lit,  for  some- 
thing more  hygienic  and  more  cleanly  and  pleasing 
to  gaze  upon.  As  before  mentioned,  the  wash-basins 
even  have  been  given  a  thought.  A  certain  size 
sufficiently  ample  to  be  useful  has  been  ordained  to 
replace  the  diminutive  chocolate  service  which  once 
did  duty,  but  which  can  no  longer  serve  to  clean  off 
the  dirt  and  grime  of  travel  by  the  new  locomotion. 

Carpets  on  the  floors  and  fuzzy  wall-papers  have 
been  banished,  and  heavy  window  lambrequins, 
through  which  only  filtered  a  dim  religious  light  not 
strong  enough  to  show  the  microbes  to  a  former 
generation,  who,  to  tell  the  truth,  thought  little 
enough  about  such  things.  To-day  we  are  more  en- 
lightened, but  in  France  the  educating  process  is  still 
in  its  busiest  stage,  and  the  Touring  Club  de  France 
is  in  the  thick  of  the  fight. 

The  three  thousand  Touring  Club  signs  are  posted 
before  the  doors  of  as  many  hotels  all  over  France, 
from  Douarnenez  in  Finistere — where  the  sardines 
come  from — to  Biarritz,  the  playground  of  princes, 
and  Nice  and  Cannes  and  Monte  Carlo  on  the  Rivi- 
era. One  and  all  of  these  signs  stand  for  the  plat- 
form upon  which  the  T.  C.  F.  is  founded.  Let  one 
of  these  hotels  so  much  as  take  the  slightest  undue 
advantage  of  a  member  of  the  T.  C.  F.  in  good 
standing,  and  the  full  force  of  the  influence  of  a 
quarter-century  old  organisation,  a  hundred  and  fifty 
thousand  members  strong,  falls  upon  him,  with  the 
ultimate  result  that  perhaps  the  sign  which  has  drawn 
to  him  the  bulk  of  his  business  is  taken  away  and 


498      THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

rehung  on  the  porte-cochere  of  his  competitor  across 
the  way. 

Occasionally  In  travelling  about  France  one  sees 
In  some  famous  viewpoint,  where  a  widespread  pano- 
rama of  sea  and  sky  unfolds,  a  great  massive  oaken 
and  Iron  bench  with  the  Initials  'f,  C.  F.  graven 
deep  therein,  and  a  further  Jtt&Ynatlon  that  it 
Is  delivered  to  the  care  of  the  public.  This 
is  another  of  the  public-spirited  Innovations  of  the 
club,  and  on  a  more  elaborate  scale  are  the  Tables 
d! Orientation,  great  circular  tables  of  porcelain,  or 
enamel  ware,  whereon  the  striking  topographical  char- 
acteristics of  the  horizon  are  graven.  They  are  an 
admirable  aid  to  the  tourist,  and  much  appreciated, 
as  for  instance,  the  one  on  Mont  Boron  at  Nice,  on 
the  Riviera,  which  in  one  direction^  points  out  that 
Corsica  may  be  seen,  on  the  other  the  Maritime 
Alps,  etc.  Another  of  these  wonderfully  Interesting 
aerial  signboards,  as  they  may  be  called,  has  recently 
been  placed  on  the  terrace  of  Henri  Quatre's  natal 
chateau  at  Pau,  overlooking  the  colline  of  Jurangon, 
from  whose  vineyards  came  that  famous  wine  which 
the  Infant  Prince  of  Beam  was  made  to  drink  within 
twenty-four  hours  of  his  birth.  There  is  another 
on  the  height  of  Bon  Secours,  near  Rouen.  In  all, 
there  are  some  fifty  of  these  plaques  scattered  about 
France. 

The  greatest  monument  of  all  to  the  Initiative  and 
powers  of  the  Touring  Club  de  France  is,  however, 
the  magnificent  Cornlche  d'Or  of  the  Esterels,  a  forty 
kilometre  stretch  of  superb  roadway  on  the  French 


TOURING  CLUB  DE  FRANCE  499 

Riviera  following  the  contours  of  the  coast  line,  up 
hill  and  down  dale  from  Frejus  to  Cannes,  through 
Saint  Raphael,  a  municipality  which  has  done  the  club 
the  honour  of  naming  its  principal  thoroughfare  the 
Boulevard  du  Touring  Club.  At  least  two  great  and 
prosperous  hotels,  non-existent  a  decade  ago,  owe 
their  establishment,  and  the  trade  which  keeps  them 
going,  to  this  new-born  idea  of  making  a  new  entrance 
by  road  to  the  beauties  of  the  Riviera. 

Each  month  the  club  issues,  gratis  to  members,  a 
monthly  illustrated  magazine  giving  information  as 
to  hotels,  innovations  of  travel  of  interest  to  its  mem- 
bers, sketch  maps,  illustrated  itineraries  and  what  not. 

It  has  recently  instituted  a  competition  for  hotel 
keepers  who  are  conducting  an  establishment  for  tour- 
ists at  an  all-in  price  not  to  exceed  nine  francs  a  day, 
about  one  dollar  and  eighty  cents.  This  should 
sound  good  to  the  traveller  who  has  already  been 
plucked  at  some  popular  super-luxurious  resort  and 
bring  home  again  more  forcibly  than  ever  that  the 
best  of  the  good  things  of  this  world  are  not  to  be 
found  in  the  footsteps  of  the  throng. 

With  such  inducements  the  hotel  industry  in 
France,  so  far  as  many  of  the  establishments  of  the 
small  towns  are  concerned,  is  on  the  qui  vive  as  it 
never  has  been  before. 

The  nautical  section  of  the  club,  recently  founded, 
has  undertaken  to  build  landing  stages  for  automobile 
boats  along  the  Seine  and  some  other  of  the  French 
rivers,  and  has  appointed,  here  and  there,  waterside 
hotels  as  headquarters,  with  the  result  that  motor- 


500      THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

boat  touring  in  France  is  a  growing  pastime,  an  ideal 
way  of  travelling,  by  the  way,  reasonable  in  price 
(even  to  the  acquiring  of  the  motor-boat),  with  ever 
the  assurance  of  finding  a  Touring  Club  hotel  at 
convenient  distances  on  the  chiefly  travelled  French 
waterways.  Thus  another  source  of  revenue  for  the 
hotel  keeper  has  been  tapped.  He  could  not  have 
done  it  alone,  but  the  club,  as  much  for  his  benefit 
as  that  of  its  lay  members,  has  encouraged  the  thing, 
and  thus  It  was  born. 

Who  can  now  say  that  the  French  know  not  how 
to  travel?  When  Indeed  will  Anglo-Saxons  know 
so  well  how  to  play  the  game  of  the  comfortable 
non-conventional  method  of  travel,  the  kind  that  does 
not  mean  blowing  yourself  at  the  first  hostelry  that 
you  come  to,  the  kind  that  means  that  the  traveller 
and  the  innkeeper  who  caters  for  him  are  bound 
together  by  a  common  lien,  the  one  not  to  expect 
too  much  and  the  other  to  make  the  way  easy  and 
the  price  reasonable  for  what  he  has  to  offer  the 
traveller  on  his  way. 

Abroad,  on  the  Continent,  the  American  and  Eng- 
lish traveller  usually  rushes  about  madly  and  demands 
bath-  and  sitting-  and  smoking-rooms  in  most  unlikely 
places,  whereas  our  Gallic  brothers  and  sisters  take 
things  easy,  pay  a  great  deal  more  care  to  the  kind  of 
food  that  Is  served  and  how,  and  above  all,  how  It  is 
cooked,  and  thus  gets  the  maximum  of  pleasure  and 
satisfaction  as  a  result. 

The  participation  of  the  woman  traveller  In  the 
benefits  to  accrue  from  association  with  this  admir- 


TOURING  CLUB  DE  FRANCE  501 

ably  conducted,  Indeed  wellnigh  omnipotent,  Tour- 
ing Club  de  France,  and  contact,  as  occasion  presents 
Itself,  with  the  exceedingly  affable  corps  of  librarians 
and  officials,  will  give  her  a  better  source  for  the 
procuring  of  reliable  information  about  many  of  the 
things  that  matter  to  the  woman  abroad  than  all  the 
renting  agencies  and  ticket  offices  that  were  ever  con- 
ceived to  befuddle  the  person  of  modest  desires  and 
means. 

In  Its  contact  with  the  stranger  the  part  played  by 
the  T.  C.  F.  is,  first  of  all,  to  be  as  well-informed  as 
possible  on  the  ways  and  means  of  getting  about 
France.  For  a  stranger  In  a  strange  land  there  Is  no 
other  source  of  supply  at  all  to  be  compared  to  this. 
Bureaus  of  one  kind  or  another  there  are  In  Ger- 
many, but  as  they  are  charged  chiefly  with  local  in- 
terests they  can  never  hope  to  fill  as  plentiful  a  role 
as  that  played  by  the  Touring  Club  de  France,  which, 
recognising  that  France  is  at  once  the  best  and  the 
least  known  of  all  foreign  lands  to  the  English- 
speaking  peoples,  seeks  to  make  its  delights  better 
known. 


aasi> 


leasing  an  apartment 
boarding-houses  and  pensions 
tradespeople's  accounts 
banks  and  banking 
payment  by  cheque 

MARRIED  woman's  BANK  ACCOUNT 

important  paris  concierge 

debts  of  the  foreigner 

payments  on  account 

dressmakers'  claims 

foreigner  in  france 

forwarding  mail 

responsibility  of  hotels 

hotels  and  guests'  effects 

household  effects  of  the  stranger 

law  of  limitation 

weights  and  measures 

marriage  and  money 

titles  of  nobility 

property  of  foreigners 

telegrams  and  tips 


XXI 
FRENCH  LAW  FOR  FOREIGNERS 

ANIMALS — PROTECTION  OF 

In  Paris  a  Soclete  Protectrice  des  Animaux  concerns 
itself  with  the  prevention  of  cruelty  to  animals.  No- 
tice should  be  given  to  any  agent  or  policeman. 

APARTMENTS 

The  question  of  sewage  should  be  especially  in- 
vestigated on  taking  a  house  or  apartment,  for  very 
many  of  the  modern  houses  are  not  connected  with 
the  main  sewage  system.  They  should  have  a  direct 
connection  ( ''  tout  a  Vegoiit  '* )  for  one  to  feel  sure 
that  a  very  important  series  of  prospective  troubles 
are  thus  to  be  avoided. 

Water  taxes,  or  rates,  are  usually  paid  by  the 
owner  of  the  building,  though  by  a  common  under- 
standing they  may  be  included  in  the  monthly  rent 
bill. 

A  lease  of  an  apartment  may  be  verbal  or  written ; 
in  the  former  case  the  receipt  for  rent  paid  (quit- 
tance) should  explain  the  conditions.  A  lease 
(bail)  should  be  registered  by  the  lessee,  at  his  ex- 
pense, unless  otherwise  provided  for.  In  general, 
rent  is  paid  once  a  quarter  and  in  advance.     Certain 

505 


5o6      THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

repairs  {reparations  locatives)  are  at  the  charge  of 
the  lessee,  but  not,  for  instance,  window  panes  broken 
by  wind  or  hail,  or  anything  that  gives  way  purely 
from  old  age.  The  difficulty  is  to  prove  all  these 
things;  the  landlord  usually  has  his  own  ideas.  It 
would  be  well  to  have  all  these  set  out  in  the  lease, 
if  possible.  The  lessee  usually  agrees  to  care  for  the 
premises  as  a  ''  bon  pere  du  famille."  Sub-leasing, 
unless  forbidden  in  the  original  lease,  is  a  common 
practice. 

APARTMENT  KEYS 

The  keys  are  by  custom  given  up  to  the  concierge 
when  the  lessee  leaves,  and  if  lessee  is  absent  for  any 
length  of  time,  after  notice  of  quitting  is  given  (by 
registered  letter  usually  to  the  proprietor  or  his 
agent),  the  keys  should  be  left  with  the  concierge, 
that  the  apartment  may  thus  be  shown  to  a  prospec- 
tive lessee.  Whatever  inconvenience  this  may  sup- 
posedly incur  must  be  borne,  and  may  be  considered 
obligatory,  as  it  is  usually  provided  for  in  the  lease  or 
bail. 

DOGS  IN  APARTMENTS 

'Do  not  keep  a  barking  dog,  which  may  annoy 
your  neighbours,  in  your  apartment;  don^t  keep  a 
dog  anyway  in  Paris.  A  flat  dweller  in  1910  was 
fined  fifty  francs  for  keeping  a  dog  in  his  apartment 
which  barked  at  night  and  annoyed  others  living 
under  the  same  roof.  Three  separate  convictions  en- 
sued, and  the  dog  was  finally  got  rid  of  as  being  too 
expensive  a  luxury. 


FRENCH  LAW  FOR  FOREIGNERS        507 

AUTOMOBILE   REGISTRATION 

The  conductor  of  an  automobile  must  have  a  cer- 
tificate of  competency,  and  the  automobile  be  regis- 
tered with  the  civil  authorities,  besides  being  "  de- 
clared '*  at  the  Mairie,  or  town  hall,  in  the  place 
where  one  is  domiciled.  Various  taxes  are  imposed, 
and  even  the  foreign-made  automobile  of  a  foreign 
tourist  is  subject  to  these  taxes,  after  four  months 
sojourn  in  France. 

BROKEN  WINDOWS 

If  the  window  of  your  apartment  is  broken  by  a 
stone  thrower,  by  a  careless  passerby — one  assumes  a 
small  boy — the  proprietor  is  bound  to  replace  it,  not 
yourself,  as  locatmre.  If  it  is  broken  by  stones 
thrown  during  a  riot,  it  is  a  case  of  force  majeur, 
and  the  locataire  pays — this  is  according  to  article 
1755  of  the  Civil  Code. 

BICYCLES 

Bicycles  must  be  fitted  with  a  plaque  de  controle 
(a  new  one  each  year),  or  badge,  which  may  be  had 
at  any  tobacconist's  at  a  cost  of  three  francs.  Those 
only  are  exempt  who  remain  less  than  three  months 
in  France. 

BOARDING  HOUSES  AND  PENSIONS 

One  may  not  conduct  a  boarding  house  or  pension 
in  Paris  without  a  permit  from  the  Service  des  Garnis 
of  the  Prefecture  of  Police.  Identity  as  to  national- 
ity, personal  and  family  details  and  an  explicit  de- 
scription of  the  dwelling  or  apartment  to  be  so  used 
must  be  furnished  by  personal  application  and  inter- 
view.    A  list  of  boarders  must  be  kept  in  formal 


5o8      THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

written-up  order  for  inspection  by  the  police  at  stated 
intervals,  or  indeed  upon  any  occasion  demanded. 

BIRTH  CERTIFICATES 

A  birth  certificate  {acte  de  naissance)  should  be 
procured  at  the  nearest  Mairie,  or  town  hall,  of  all 
children  born  in  France,  and  this  upon  declaration 
within  three  days  of  the  event.  In  case  of  children 
of  American  parents,  they  should  be  registered  forth- 
with at  nearest  American  consulate. 

BOOKS  AND  BOOKKEEPING 

A  tradesman  is  obliged  to  keep  a  daily  journal, 
a  letter-book  and  stock-book.  All  of  these  must  be 
signed  or  initialed  by  the  proper  authorities  once  a 
year,  who  take  notice  that  no  pages  have  been  re- 
moved or  others  substituted,  and  that  no  manifestly 
fraudulent  additions  or  omissions  are  to  be  noted. 
These  books  of  account  are  obliged  to  be  preserved 
for  ten  years,  and  a  client  may  force  a  tradesman  to 
show  his  books  in  case  of  dispute.  Another  regula- 
tion which  affects  the  tradesman  is  that  he  must  pub- 
lish publicly  his  marriage  contract  before  starting  in 
business,  that  furnishers  may  know  just  how  far  he 
may  be  responsible  financially,  for  often  a  man  will 
have  passed  over  certain  rights  in  this  world's  goods 
for  the  sole  benefit  of  his  wife  and  prospective  chil- 
dren; such  a  procedure  will  also  show  to  what  extent 
his  wife's  fortune,  if  any,  is  available  for  use  in  her 
husband's  business. 

BANKS  AND  BANK  CHEQUES 

Banks  and  banking,  as  the  words  are  known  in 
the  United  States,  are  hardly  of  the  same  significance 


FRENCH  LAW  FOR  FOREIGNERS         509 

in  France,  save  as  one  may  patronise  one  of  the 
avowed  American  institutions  located  in  Paris.  Pay- 
ment by  cheque  in  France  is  not  at  all  the  common 
procedure  that  it  is  in  America  or  England.  A 
French  cheque  is  dated  by  writing  the  date  and  month 
in  letters,  not  in  figures;  each  bears  a  ten  centime 
stamp,  and  the  same  may  not  afterwards  serve  as 
proof  of  the  payment  of  an  account,  save  through  the 
courtesy  of  the  bank  officials,  for  cancelled  cheques  are 
not  returned  to  the  drawer.  A  cheque  must  be  signed 
the  same  day  that  it  is  drawn,  and  must  be  payable 
on  sight — a  vue.  It  may  be  payable  to  bearer 
(porteur)  or  to  order  {ordre)y  and  the  entire  text 
of  the  cheque  must  be  in  the  handwriting  of  the 
drawer.  The  holder  of  a  cheque  must  present  it 
within  five  days,  if  payable  at  the  place  at  which  it  is 
dated,  or  eight  days,  if  payable  at  another  place, 
otherwise  payment  may  be  refused  by  the  bank  upon 
instructions  of  the  drawer,  and  the  holder  loses  even 
the  right  to  claim  its  sum  against  the  drawer  if  there 
are  no  funds  in  the  bank  with  which  to  pay  it  after 
this  delay. 

The  responsibility  of  payment  on  a  cheque  being 
made  to  the  right  person  devolves  entirely  upon  the 
drawer;  the  bank  assumes  no  responsibility. 

A  Letter  of  Credit,  or  any  of  the  various  forms 
of  Travellers*  Cheques  issued  by  responsible  concerns, 
like  the  American  Express  Company,  the  Hamburg- 
American  Line,  etc.,  are  useful  for  travellers,  but 
a  deposit  subject  to  cheque  in  the  Credit  Lyonnaise, 
the  Comptoir  National  d'Escompte  or  the  Societe 


5IO      THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

General  at  Paris,  is  the  most  convenient  method  of 
having  funds  at  one's  ready  call  if  settled  down  in 
France. 

A  married  woman  may  not  have  a  current  bank 
account,  except  with  the  written  consent  of  her  hus- 
band. 

"  CITIZENSHIP  "as  related  TO  "  DOMICILE  '' 

In  any  dealings  with  French  officials,  or  United 
States  diplomatic  or  consular  officers  in  France,  or 
indeed  anywhere*  abroad,  do  not  confuse  the  questions 
of  citizenship  (nationality)  and  domicile  and  resi- 
dence. The  confusion  of  these  points  may  be  fraught 
with  great  importance  in  any  legal  discussion  which 
may  come  up. 

CITIZENSHIP  IN  FRANCE 

French  citizenship  belongs  by  right  to  legitimate 
children  born  abroad  of  a  French  father;  children 
born  in  France  of  unknown  parents  or  of  a  French 
mother  whose  father  is  unknown;  children  born  in 
France  of  a  foreign  father  who  has  neglected  to  es- 
tablish his  legal  status  as  a  foreigner — in  the  case  of 
Americans  by  registration  at  an  American  Consulate 
between  their  eighteenth  and  nineteenth  birthdays. 

Citizenship  may  be  acquired  in  France  by  a  foreign 
woman  when  she  marries  a  Frenchman,  by  children 
of  a  foreigner  resident  in  France  by  election  and  by 
naturalisation. 

Frenchmen  may  lose  their  French  citizenship  by 
naturalisation  under  a  foreign  power;  a  Frenchwoman 
^ho  marries  a  foreigner  by  becoming  a  widow^  or  a 


FRENCH  LAW  FOR  FOREIGNERS         511 

divorcee  may  recover  French  citizenship  under  certain 
conditions. 

CITIZENSHIP  AND  REGISTRATION  OF  AMERICANS 
AT  CONSULATE 

Americans  living  abroad  should  register  at  the 
nearest  American  Consulate  in  order  to  preserve  their 
citizenship. 

Children  born  abroad  of  American  parents  should 
be  registered  at  the  American  Consulate  before  their 
nineteenth  year. 

CHILD  LABOUR 

Child  labour  in  France  is  controlled  by  law.  They 
are  forbidden  to  work  between  9  p.  M.  and  5  A.  M. 

CONCIERGES 

The  concierge  of  a  Paris  dwelling  is  a  very  im- 
portant person.  His  duties  and  responsibilities  are 
many.  Foreign  residents  should  make  friends  with 
their  concierge,  otherwise  he  may  be  very  disagree- 
able indeed.  He  receives  one*s  letters,  parcels  and 
telegrams,  and  delivers  them  at  your  door  three  times 
a  day,  takes  note  of  the  names  of  callers  and  must 
tell  them  if  you  are  "  in  "  or  *'  out."  At  any  hour 
of  the  day  or  night  he  must  respond  to  a  call  at  the 
door  or  grande  porte,  must  forward  letters,  etc.,  if 
one  is  away  temporarily,  and  for  one  year  after  one 
has  vacated  an  apartment.  He  must  keep  the  stair- 
ways, halls  and  dooryards  in  a  state  of  cleanliness, 
etc.,  etc.  He  is  the  agent  of  the  landlord.  In  many 
cases,  for  the  collection  of  rents,  and  expects  a  sum 
equal  to  two  per  cent  of  the  yearly  rental  as  a  New 


512      THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

Year's  gift  from  the  tenant.  Curiously  enough  there 
is  a  custom,  usage,  or  right — but  it  is  apparently  a 
dead  letter — whereby  the  concierge  may  appropriate 
one  faggot  every  time  a  tenant  gets  in  a  supply  of 
wood.  The  concierge,  when  he  rents  you  an  apart- 
ment, demands  a  denier  a  dieu,  or  payment  on  ac- 
count, of  his  future  pourboires,  often  a  trifling  sum; 
a  domestic  servant  is  also  entitled  to  the  same  thing 
upon  engagement. 

If  the  concierge  of  your  apartment  deliberately 
annoys  you — as  taking  advantage  of  the  particular 
occasion  when  you  are  about  to  give  a  reception  to 
paint  the  handrail  of  the  staircase,  you  may  sue  his 
employer  for  damages,  and,  if  your  case  is  well- 
founded,  win  it.  This,  provided  you  want  to  take 
the  trouble.  If  your  concierge  is  really  so  disagree- 
able as  all  that  you  had  better  move.  He  will  not 
of  course  try  the  same  trick  again,  but  might  con- 
ceivably try  one  something  similar. 

If  the  concierge  of  your  Paris  apartment  house 
(and  this  is  local  custom  rather  than  law)  goes  off 
and  leaves  a  small  child  of  six  or  eight  in  charge,  and 
a  burglar  breaks  in  and  steals,  his  employer — the 
proprietor  of  the  building — is  responsible.  French 
law  recognises  equality  of  sex,  and  a  man  or  woman 
may  be  concierge,  but  they  "  must  be  capable  of 
carrying  out  the  duties  so  entrusted  to  them." 

DEBTS 

Debts  due  from  foreigners  can  be  collected  by 
restraint  upon  the  effects  of  the  foreigner  who  may 
be  temporarily  resident  in  a  French  hotel,  house  pr 


FRENCH  LAW  FOR  FOREIGNERS        513 

apartment.  It  is  called  a  Saisie  Foraine,  and  can 
only  be  put  into  execution  by  the  creditor  after  appli- 
cation to  the  Judge  of  the  Tribunal  du  Premier  In- 
stance, or  a  Justice  of  the  Peace  of  the  District 
where  the  goods  of  the  debtor  are  to  be  found. 

DEATHS 

Deaths  after  being  declared  at  the  Mairie,  or 
town  hall,  and  a  *'  certificat  de  Deces  "  issued,  may 
be  followed  by  an  immediate  funeral,  usually 
arranged  direct  with  the  Bureau  des  Pompes  Funebres 
at  a  fixed  tariff,  according  to  the  elaborateness  of  the 
cortege,  etc.,  such  charges  being  regulated  by  law, 
and  ranging  from  forty  francs  upward. 

DEPOSITS  OR  PAYMENTS  ON  ACCOUNT 

Arrhes  is  an  unusual  word  which  you  may  meet 
with  in  your  dealings  with  your  milliner  or  dress- 
maker. A  cabman  even  may  demand  his  arrhes  in 
case  he  is  taken  for  a  long  journey  across  town,  or 
under  circumstances  by  which  he  has  no  assurance 
of  being  paid  his  fare.  Sometimes  arrhes  are  asked 
for  in  taking  a  lease  of  a  house,  apartment  or  studio. 
In  these  cases  the  payment  and  acceptance  of  arrhes 
binds  both  parties,  though  the  lease  or  bail  may  not 
have  been  signed. 

DISGUISES 

One  is  not  allowed  to  wear  publicly  costumes  of 
another  sex,  nor  any  uniform,  medal  or  decoration 
without  being  entitled  thereto,  exceptions  being  made 
in  the  first  case  at  the  seasons  of  Mardi  Gras  and  Mi 
Careme. 


514      THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

DOCTORS  AND  DENTISTS 

Doctors  and  dentists  may  only  practise  in  France 
if  possessed  of  diplomas  issued  upon  the  completion 
of  certain  courses  in  Government-appointed  institu- 
tions. A  degree  from  a  foreign  institution,  of  what- 
ever rank,  carries  no  right  to  recognition  in  France 
save  that  these  first  conditions  have  been  complied 
with.  Such  is  the  law  as  it  exists  to-day,  though 
certain  privileges  and  exemptions  of  certain  formali- 
ties are  sometimes  made  upon  representation  to  the 
proper  authorities. 

DIVORCE  AND  SEPARATION 

Separation  is  granted  husband  or  wife  by  the  courts 
by  reason  of  the  same  causes  as  are  admitted  for 
divorce.  This  may  be  a  concession  to  the  Church, 
which  does  not  admit  of  divorce,  though  in  this  con- 
nection there  is,  it  must  be  remembered,  no  State  Re- 
ligion in  France;  Catholics,  Protestants,  Jews  and 
Mohammedans  are  alike  before  the  law,  though  in 
the  latter  case  a  Mohammedan  living  in  France  may 
not  practise  polygamy,  as  he  is  allowed  to  by  the 
tenets  of  his  creed. 

DRUNKENNESS 

Drunkenness  in  France  is  punishable  by  fine  if  in 
public,  and  fine  and  imprisonment  if  repeated.  The 
law  differentiates  though  between  occasional  exuber- 
ance (ivresse)  and  habitual  drunkenness  (ivro- 
gnerie).  It  is  also  punishable  by  fine  if  one  sells 
drink  to  a  person  already  the  worse  off  for  it,  or  to 
minors.  A  coutume,  or  local  custom  or  usage,  is 
current  in  most  parts  of  France,  which  allows  one  the 


FRENCH  LAW  FOR  FOREIGNERS         515 

privilege  of  retracting  within  twenty-four  hours  any 
agreement  made  in  a  public  drinking  place. 
dressmakers'  claims 
A  dressmaker  must  give  a  customer  a  good  and 
proper  *'  fit."  The  higher  price  one  pays,  and  the 
more  exclusive  the  establishment  patronised,  the  more 
exigent  one  is  entitled  to  be  as  regards  all  details  of 
style,  workmanship,  material,  finish  and  fit,  and  the 
French  courts  may  be  expected  to  uphold  any  reason- 
able claims  of  a  customer,  a  foreigner  even,  as  against 
an  establishment  of  this  class.  It  is  a  question  as  to 
whether  such  a  case  is  worth  taking  to  court;  pos- 
sibly not  with  regard  to  a  small  dressmaker  working 
on  her  own  account,  but  with  regard  to  an  establish- 
ment of  undoubted  financial  responsibility,  one  has  a 
fighting  chance — if  the  case  is  well  founded.  A  sine 
qua  non  is  that  you  shall  have  agreed  to  pay  what 
may  be  called  a  "  fashionable  price  "  for  the  garment 
in  question;  this  implies  (because  in  general  such  are 
admitted  as  excessive)  the  best  of  everything.  If 
the  couturier  so  much  as  substitutes  satinette  for  silk, 
or  bone  buttons  for  ivory,  if  the  former  were  agreed 
upon,  his  case  may  be  expected  to  fall  to  the  ground. 

DIVORCE 

Divorce  in  France  is  allowed  for  statutory  causes 
on  the  part  of  husband  or  wife,  violence,  cruelty  or 
insults,  or  the  sentencing  of  either  party  to  death, 
exile  or  penal  servitude.  Collusion  in  divorce  pro- 
ceedings annuls  all  hope  of  judgment.  Divorce  evi- 
dence is  not  allowed  to  he  published,  and  only  public 
notice  that  divorce  has  been  granted  is  allowed.     A 


5i6      THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

divorced  person  may  not  afterwards  marry  the  co- 
respondent, and  may  not  marry  again  in  less  than  ten 
months.  Children  and  grandchildren  are  not  allowed 
to  give  testimony. 

DEATH  OF  A  FOREIGNER  IN  FRANCE 

The  death  of  a  foreigner  in  France  often  causes 
much  difficulty  for  friends  and  relatives  in  the  time 
of  most  poignant  sorrow.  The  American  Consul 
should  be  advised  immediately,  thereby  much  annoy- 
ance may  be  saved.  Death  duties  are  payable  to  the 
French  Government  in  some  cases  and  not  in  others. 
Only  one  versed  in  such  matters  can  decide  the  pro- 
cedure. If  death  occurs  in  a  hotel,  an  indemnity  is 
due  the  hotel  keeper  for  derangement,  or  moral  preju- 
dice, according  to  circumstances.  This  may  be  much 
or  little,  and  may  often  be  made  a  matter  of  arrange- 
ment. The  personal  belongings  of  the  deceased  are 
immediately  put  under  seal  by  the  Justice  of  the 
Peace,  a  formality  which  usually  gives  way  before 
the  representation  of  the  authority  of  an  American 
diplomatic  or  consular  officer. 

DEATH  DUTIES    (DROITS  DE  SUCCESSION) 

Stocks,  bonds  and  valuables  of  whatever  kind,  if 
kept  in  a  safe  deposit  vault  to  which  the  original 
owner  had  a  key,  are  not  liable  to  the  French  death 
duties.  Once  the  succession  is  regulated  and  the  ex- 
ecutor having  rights  is  recognised  by  the  French 
authorities,  the  key  and  other  property  (which  may 
have  paid  death  duties)  is  turned  over.  What 
further  fortune  the  turn  of  the  key  may  bring  to 
light  is  no  concern  of  any  one  but  the  executor. 


FRENCH  LAW  FOR  FOREIGNERS        517 

FOREIGNERS  IN  FRANCE 
All  persons  living  in  French  territory  are  subject 
to  the  laws  of  France,  except  with  regard  to  personal 
property  and  his  or  her  power  to  dispose  of  it  by  deed 
of  gift  or  testament. 

FORWARDING  OF  MAIL  MATTER 

Letters  are  bound  to  be  forwarded  to  your  new 
address  by  the  concierge  upon  your  leaving  the  build- 
ing where  he  is  employed;  he  is  also  bound  to  reply 
to  inquiries  and  give  your  new  address  to  those  who 
so  demand,  for  a  period  of  one  year.  As  an  extra 
precaution  with  regard  to  letters  the  Receveur  Prin- 
cipal des  Postes  et  Telegraphes  should  be  notified  of 
your  change  of  address. 

FAMILY  RIGHTS 

A  Family  Council  may  be  instituted  by  law  to 
safeguard  general  interests.  The  same  institution 
is  known  under  the  Code  Napoleon  in  Louisiana. 
The  presiding  officer  is  usually  a  local  Juge  de  Paix. 

The  rights  of  the  paternal  head  of  the  family  are 
absolute;  a  child  remains  under  his  authority  until 
majority,  and  may  not  even  leave  the  house  (legally) 
without  permission. 

Guardianship  of  the  father  over  the  personal  estate 
of  minor  children  is  implied.  If  either  father  or 
mother  dies  the  survivor  becomes  the  guardian,  who, 
upon  decease,  will  presumably  have  appointed  a  legal 
guardian  if  the  children  are  still  minor. 

The  ward^s  interests  are  not  guaranteed  by  a  bond, 
but  by  hypotheque  legale  of  the  property  of  the 


5i8      THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

guardian,    which   amounts   to  practically   the   same 
thing. 

HOUSEHOLD  SILVER 

If  you  choose  to  bring  household  silver  to  France 
for  use  In  your  Paris  apartment,  you  must  pay  two 
francs  a  hundred  grammes.  Household  effects  In 
general  should  have  a  certificate  of  origin  from  the 
nearest  French  Consulate  In  America. 

HOTELS  AND  THEIR  RESPONSIBILITY  TOWARDS 
GUESTS 

Hotels  and  auherges  are  responsible  depositories 
of  the  effects  of  their  guests.  The  hotel  keeper  is 
responsible  for  theft  or  Injury  thereto,  whether  com- 
mitted by  his  employees  or  an  outsider.  Burglary,  as 
an  act  of  "  superior  force,"  gives  a  legal  exemption. 

The  hotel  keeper  has  lien  on  the  effects  of  the 
traveller  for  lodging  and  food  and  drink  supplied, 
but  only  on  the  effects  which  the  traveller  may  have 
brought  with  him  to  the  hotel.  The  Statute  of  Lim- 
itations annuls  the  hotel  keeper's  claim  after  six 
months. 

The  hotel  register  is  bound  to  be  kept  by  law,  and 
is  ever  at  the  call  and  Inspection  of  the  police.  The 
same  regulation  applies  to  lodging  or  boarding  houses. 
A  hotel  keeper  may  not  lodge  more  than  twenty-four 
hours  one  who  proves  to  have  committed  a  criminal 
act  during  that  time.  The  hotel  register  Is  thus  re- 
quired to  have  the  details  of  the  guest  inscribed 
thereon  immediately  upon  arrival,  name,  age,  nation- 
ality, profession,  where  last  from,  where  bound. 


FRENCH  LAW  FOR  FOREIGNERS         519 
HOLIDAYS 

French  legal  holidays  are  Sundays ;  January  i ; 
Christmas  Day;  Ascension  Day;  Easter  Monday  and 
Whit-Monday ;  Assumption;  Toussaints,  and  the 
Fete  Nationale — July  14th. 

HOTELS 

Baggage  left  at  a  hotel  as  security  for  a  bill  may 
be  sold  by  public  auction  six  months  after  the  depart- 
ture  of  the  traveller,  any  surplus  being  deposited  for 
the  latter^s  account  in  an  appointed  depository,  where 
it  remains  for  two  years,  after  which  it  is  acquired 
by  the  State. 

HOUSEHOLD   EFFECTS    (IMPORTATION   OF) 

The  bringing  of  household  effects  to  France  by  a 
stranger  who  expects  to  reside  there  is  possible  only 
under  certain  restrictions.  Household  furniture, 
books,  linen  and  clothing  once  used  abroad  are  ad- 
mitted free  for  one's  personal  use.  If  any  consider- 
able quantity  is  involved  a  visit  should  be  paid  to 
the  French  consul  at  the  point  of  departure  and  a 
certificate  of  service,  which  will  cost  but  a  trifle,  be 
taken,  if  one  can  be  obtained.  This  will,  in  a  way, 
establish  origin  and  bona  fides.  The  assay  rights  on 
household  silver  and  gold  will  have  to  be  paid  if  any 
but  the  slightest  volume  of  such  is  brought;  twenty 
francs  a  kilo  on  silver  and  three  hundred  and  seventy- 
five  francs  a  kilo  on  gold. 

EDUCATION 
Education  is  obligatory  in  France  for  boys  and 
girls  from  six  to  thirteen  years  of  age.     Instruction 


520     THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

may  be  at  public  or  private  schools,  or  even  at  the 
home  of  the  father. 

GAMBLING  DEBTS 

Gambling  debts  are  not  admitted  to  process  of 
law,  save  with  exceptions  referring  to  "  sport."  Bil- 
liards and  card  playing  do  not  come  In  that  category. 

INFECTIOUS  DISEASES 

In  case  of  suspicion  of  an  Infectious  disease  having 
taken  place  In  an  apartment  about  to  be  hired,  the 
landlord  may  be  compelled  to  have  It  disinfected  by 
the  public  health  authorities,  otherwise  you  are  privi- 
leged to  cancel  your  lease. 

IDENTIFICATION 

The  average  American  travels,  and  often  lives, 
abroad  without  any  official  documentary  Identifica- 
tion. A  passport  should  be  in  the  possession  of  every 
one  travelling  or  living  abroad.  This,  In  the  absence 
of  any  other  pieces  d'identite,  for  which  the  French 
authorities  so  often  ask,  will  prove  useful  and  even 
valuable  on  many  occasions. 

LEGITIMATISING  OF  CHILDREN 

A  father  may  recognise  and  legltlmatise  a  child 
without  even  the  tacit  admission  of  the  mother.  The 
French  law  is  liberal  and  simple.  Recognition  is 
made  legal  by  an  Acte  Authentique  de  Reconnaissance, 
which  Is  stamped  and  registered  by  the  authorities 
free  of  charge.  No  woman  may  claim  paternity  for 
any  child  born  out  of  wedlock;  this  with  exceptions. 
The  subject  is  a  vast  one,  but  not  complicated.  The 
law  favours  the  better  Instincts  of  humanity  and  Is 
generally  so  recognised. 


FRENCH  LAW  FOR  FOREIGNERS         521 
LOST  AND  FOUND 

Lost  property  if  found  is  supposed  to  be  delivered 
in  Paris  to  the  Bureau  des  Objets  Trouves,  elsewhere 
at  the  Hotel  de  Ville.  A  form  is  filled  up,  a  receipt 
given,  and  affairs  run  their  course,  when,  under  cer- 
tain reservations,  the  object  is  ultimately  given  to  the 
finder,  if  no  owner  appears.  If  one  buys  lost  prop- 
erty, he  must,  in  case  the  owner  appears,  give  it  up 
on  reimbursement  of  the  sum  paid.  This  presumes 
that  there  has  been  no  collusion  or  fraud,  and  that 
the  article  was  bought  in  good  faith. 

LAW  OF  LIMITATIONS 

The  French  Law  of  Limitations — after  which  one 
may  not  be  sued  for  debt — varies  as  to  whether  the 
dealings  are  by  persons  in  trade  or  between  a  trades- 
man and  an  individual.  A  milliner  or  a  dressmaker 
produces  one  of  those  ravishing  confections  for  an 
American  customer,  who,  living  on  her  income,  occu- 
pies an  apartment  in  the  Etoile  quarter,  and  for  some 
reason  or  other,  because  it  was  not  as  ordered,  because 
the  dress  did  not  fit  or  what  not,  refuses  payment, 
the  individual  may  not  be  sued  for  the  bill  after 
two  years  have  passed.  The  French  Civil  Code 
(Feb.  26,  191 1)  thus  "outlaws"  such  transactions. 
This  applies  as  well  to  doctors*  and  dentists'  bills. 

Between  merchants  doing  business  along  similar, 
or  different  lines,  prescription  comes  under  another 
ruling.  Notes  and  Bills  of  Exchange,  etc.,  are  only 
outlawed  after  five  years. 

The  accounts  of  a  professor  or  teacher  of  the  sci- 
ences or  arts,  for  lessons  given,  are  outlawed  in  six 


522      THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

months,  as  are  also  those  of  hotel  and  restaurant 
keepers,  for  board  and  lodging  furnished,  and  of 
labourers  and  work  people  for  their  day's  wages  and 
material  supplied. 

The  accounts  of  servants  who  hire  themselves  out 
by  the  year,  and  of  boarding-school  teachers,  are  out- 
lawed within  one  year. 

Within  two  years,  limitation  applies  to  the  bills  of 
doctors,  surgeons,  dentists  and  chemists.  The  bills 
of  doctors  are  legally  due  when  a  patient  recovers, 
or  dies.  This  would  seem  to  offer  much  subject  for 
discussion,  but  the  fact,  as  it  Is  generally  understood. 
Is  stated  nevertheless.  Lawyers*  fees  are,  according 
to  the  same  reasoning,  or  custom,  due  when  judgment 
is  obtained,  or  a  compromise  between  the  parties 
interested  arrived  at. 

A  general  statute  provides  for  general  limitation 
at  thirty  years,  but  legal  matters  In  which  judges  or 
lawyers  are  appointed  as  trustees  and  the  like  are 
supposed  to  be  settled  within  ^y^  years,  at  which  date, 
notes,  bills  of  exchange,  etc.,  signed  by  merchants  or 
traders,  are  annulled  by  automatic  prescription. 

LEASES  OF  HOUSES  OR  APARTMENTS — (bAIL) 

One  salient  point  should  be  observed  first  of  all, 
and  that  Is  the  condition  of  the  house  or  apartment 
{etat  de  lieux)  upon  taking  possession.  Unless  it 
is  so  expressly  stated  In  writing,  the  lessee  is  supposed 
to  have  received  the  property  In  good  condition,  and 
must  so  leave  It.  The  expense  of  a  survey,  or  the  act 
of  compiling  an  etat  de  lieux  is  usually  shared  equally 
by  the  lessee  and  lessor. 


FRENCH  LAW  FOR  FOREIGNERS         523 

The  rent  (loyer)  is  supposed  to  be  guaranteed  by 
the  lessee  having  possession  in  his  own  right  and  in 
placing  in  the  apartment  sufficient  furniture.  The 
landlord,  through  his  concierge,  or  by  other  means, 
may  forbid  the  removal  of  any  furniture  if  any  por- 
tion of  the  rental  remains  unpaid.  Sureties  may  be 
entered  into  for  the  amount  of  the  rental,  or  a  deposit 
may  be  made  by  the  lessee  in  some  bank  in  the  name 
of  the  lessor,  as  a  guarantee,  in  which  case,  by  local 
custom — not  law — the  interest  on  the  sum  so  depos- 
ited belongs  to  the  lessor. 

A  hired  piano  or  other  article  of  furniture  could 
secure  exemption  by  an  agreement  in  writing,  signed 
by  all  the  parties  concerned,  but  such  an  arrangement 
would  not  apply  to  a  general  outfit  of  hired  furniture, 
unless  the  lessor  was  otherwise  secured. 

MOURNING 

The  periods  of  full  mourning  in  France  (Paris) 
are  one  year  for  a  widow  or  widower;  nine  months 
for  father,  mother,  father-in-law,  or  mother-in-law; 
six  months  for  a  child,  son-in-law,  daughter-in-law, 
grandparents,  brother,  sister,  brother-in-law,  sister-in- 
law.  Half  mourning  follows  for  nine  months  in  the 
case  of  a  widow  or  widower;  six  months  for  father, 
mother,  father-in-law,  mother-in-law,  and  three 
months  for  other  members  of  the  family. 

MAJORITY,  OR  COMING  OF  AGE 

Majority  comes  automatically  to  boys  and  girls 
at  the  age  of  twenty-one,  when,  so  far  as  all  civil  acts 
are  concerned,  they  are  no  longer  minors.     As  to 


524     THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

marriage,  all  males  must  have  completed  their  eigh- 
teenth year,  and  females  their  fifteenth,  but  consent 
of  the  parents  must  be  obtained  in  the  case  of  the 
man  up  to  twenty-five  years  of  age,  and  of  woman  up 
to  twenty-one.  Failing  the  latter,  the  formality 
known  as  an  acte  de  respecte  absolves  them  from  the 
necessity  of  parental  permission. 

METRIC  SYSTEM  OF  WEIGHTS  AND  MEASURES 

The  metric  system  is  alone  legal  in  France.  Any 
one  who  may  expect  to  have  general  dealings  with 
French  tradesmen  or  institutions  should  provide  him- 
self with  a  set  of  these  tables  and  their  American 
equivalents  in  weights  and  measures.  The  system  is 
simple,  practical  and  thoroughly  applicable  to  all 
transactions  whereby  are  usually  applied  our  own 
rather  complicated  system  of  computation. 

MONEY — (current  COINS  AND  BANK  NOTES ) 

The  gold  of  Belgium,  Italy,  Switzerland,  Greece, 
Austria  and  Tunisia  passes  current  in  France,  and  the 
gold  and  silver  of  Belgium  and  Switzerland.  Papal 
States  coinage  is  no  longer  current,  nor  is  the  divi- 
sionary coinage  of  Greece,  as  was  the  case  until  quite 
recently.  Small  silver  coinage,  certain  of  the  Napo- 
leon effigy  without  the  laurel  crown,  the  coins  of  the 
reign  of  Louis  XVIII  and  some  others,  are  now 
demonetised.  In  general  all  the  five-franc  or  five- 
livre  pieces  of  the  European  powers  are  current  in 
France,  but  no  bank-notes  except  those  of  the  Bank 
of  France.  An  English  sovereign  is  usually  accepted 
by  shops  and  hotels  at  twenty-five  francs,  and  a  five 


FRENCH  LAW  FOR  FOREIGNERS         525 

dollar  gold  coin  ought  to  bring  between  twenty-five 
francs  fifty  centimes  and  twenty-six  francs.  Copper 
coins  are  not  legal  tender  beyond  five  francs,  and  no 
one  is  obliged  to  make  change  for  a  bank-note. 

MONEY  (counterfeit) 

False  money  is  a  thing  for  strangers  to  beware  of 
in  Europe.  Once  accepted  you  have  no  redress 
against  one  who  gave  it  to  you,  but  he  must  not  refuse 
to  give  you  another  piece  for  any  you  may  be  justly 
suspicious  of  when  you  are  actually  completing  a 
transaction.    If  he  refuses  it  is  an  affair  for  the  police. 

MARRIAGE 

The  institution  of  French  marriage  is  based  on  the 
family.  The  question  of  the  mercenary  ^'  dot  '^  is 
not  to  be  considered  here,  but  the  endowing  of  a 
daughter,  and  often  a  son,  is  a  tenet  of  the  French 
family  creed.  It  is  not  obligatory  by  law,  but  is 
usual. 

Marriages  between  brothers  and  sisters-in-law, 
though  tacitly  forbidden,  is  often  to  be  arranged  by 
personal  appeal  to  the  President  of  the  Republic. 
Marriage  is  a  public  institution  and  must  be  cele- 
brated before  a  civil  officer,  the  Maire  of  the  Com- 
mune; whether  a  religious  marriage  follows  or  not 
is  optional.  Public  notice  to  the  effect  that  a  mar- 
riage is  to  take  place  must  be  posted  on  the  notice 
board  of  the  Mairie,  or  town  hall,  and  the  exhibit- 
ing of  a  birth  certificate,  or  an  ''  acte  de  notoriete,*' 
in  the  absence  of  the  former,  is  necessary,  as  well  as 
the  written  consent  of  the  parents  (or  its  substitute 


526      THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

in  case  the  former  is  not  possible),  as  well  as  a  public 
acknowledgment  of  the  terms  of  the  marriage  settle- 
ment. 

American  diplomatic  or  consular  officers  may  not 
officiate  at  the  marriage  of  those  of  their  nationality, 
as  may  their  colleagues  in  the  British  service,  but 
they  may,  upon  request,  be  witnesses  of  the  marriage, 
at  an  appropriate  fee,  which  is  regulated  by  the  legal 
list  of  consular  fees,  and  the  same  may  be  recorded 
in  the  records  of  the  consulate  upon  the  payment  of 
the  legal  fee  as  well. 

A  woman  married  under  the  French  law  must 
obey  her  husband,  is  obliged  to  live  with  him,  and 
where  he  may  decide.  With  the  authority  of  her 
husband  she  may  carry  on  business  and  make  con- 
tracts as  if  she  were  single,  but  may  not  go  to  law 
except  with  his  specific  consent  or  that  of  the  courts. 
If  her  husband  is  poor  and  she  has  financial  means, 
she  is  obliged  to  aid  him,  and  she  cannot,  as  an  in- 
dividual, transfer  any  property  which  she  may  pos- 
sess without  his  assent. 

The  subject  is  a  very  vast  and  important  one,  and 
any  one  interested,  for  any  reason  whatever,  should 
take  every  means  of  supplying  themselves  with  thor- 
ough information  on  the  subject  if  they  would  avoid 
pitfalls  and  unthought-of  circumstances  and  condi- 
tions. 

From  a  sentimental  point,  the  French  law  does  not 
recognise  a  breach  of  promise;  only  in  case  of  material 
loss,  as  for  the  purchase  of  a  trousseau,  expense  of  a 
journey,  or  what  not  of  a  like  nature,  has  a  jilted 


FRENCH  LAW  FOR  FOREIGNERS         527 

young  woman  any  recourse  or  hope  of  the  gain  of 
"  damages.'* 

NOBILITY 

The  French  titles  of  nobility  are  a  hereditary  dis- 
tinction. Such  existing  titles  as  one  meets  with  are 
descended  from  a  time  anterior  to  the  meeting  of  the 
National  Assembly  of  1789 — which  abolished  them 
by  decree — or  from  the  new  nobility  erected  by  Napc^ 
leon  in  1806,  or  the  Restoration  of  Louis  XVIIL 
Various  abolishments  came  Into  operation,  but  cer- 
tainly such  things  as  existed  cannot  be  abolished,  and 
so  with  some  reasoning  descendants  put  forth  their 
pretensions,  which,  however,  are  not  legally  recog- 
nised, and  may  practically  be  considered  courtesy 
titles. 

NEWSPAPER  STATEMENTS — LIBELOUS  OR  NOT 

Newspaper  mention,  by  error,  of  any  act  or  fault 
improperly  attributable  to  an  individual,  is  bound  to 
be  corrected  by  the  owner  of  the  paper  upon  request 
of  the  grieved  party,  by  gratuitous  insertion  of  the 
correction  within  three  days  after  having  received 
such  request. 

NEWSBOYS 

A  newsboy  in  France  may  not  shout  false  news  in 
order  to  sell  his  papers.  A  leather-lunged  newsboy 
(of  perhaps  twenty-five  years  of  age)  shouted: 
"  Great  Catastrophe  on  the  Underground,**  when 
there  was  nothing  that  had  happened  to  justify  such 
a  procedure.  He  was  arrested,  admonished  and 
fined. 


528      THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 
NATURALISATION 

A  foreigner  may  become  naturalised  a  French  sub- 
ject, and  enjoy  all  the  privileges  of  the  French,  but 
he  may  not  be  eligible  to  legislative  assemblies  until 
ten  years  later.  Naturalisation  applies  only  to  the 
individual,  not  to  his  wife  and  children,  without  a 
separate  procedure. 

NOTARIES 

A  Notaire  in  France  does  not  exactly  correspond 
to  a  Notary  Public.  Protests  are  made  in  France 
by  Huissiers.  A  French  Notary  may,  under  certain 
conditions,  administer  an  oath  to  be  made  use  of  on 
a  document  in  the  United  States,  but  his  signature 
and  seal  should  be  certified  by  a  United  States  diplo- 
matic or  consular  officer  located  in  France,  under 
which  circumstances  it  would  have  been  better  to 
have  had  the  notarial  act  performed  by  such  officer 
in  the  first  instance. 

LOST  AND  FOUND  PROPERTY 

Treasure  trove,  i.e.,  objects  found  on  one's  own 
property  belong  to  the  owner  of  that  property;  if 
found  on  the  property  of  another — in  a  hired  house, 
apartment  or  garden — half  value  belongs  to  the  finder 
and  half  to  the  owner  of  the  property. 

PROFESSIONAL  SECRECY 

Professional  secrecy  is  provided  for  by  law.  A 
doctor,  lawyer,  clergyman,  etc.,  may  not  reveal  in- 
formation which  has  been  confided  to  them  in  the 
way  of  their  professional  duties,  except  as  to  liability 
to  a  fine  or  imprisonment,  or  both. 


FRENCH  LAW  FOR  FOREIGNERS         529 

FRENCH  PROPERTY 

A  foreigner  owning  property  in  France  is  subject 
to  attachment  in  law  if  a  suit  goes  against  him  in 
France. 

PROFESSIONAL  ENGAGEMENTS 

Actors,  musicians  and  singers  are  engaged  upon 
written  agreement,  with  usually  the  right  of  the  im- 
pressario  to  annul  said  agreement  if  the  artist  does 
not  "  take,"  a  line  distinction  and  one  fraught  with 
considerable  possible  difficulty.  After  the  first  ap- 
pearances, and  assuming  that  they  are  successful,  the 
engagement  holds  good  for  the  full  term  of  the 
agreement,  and  the  salary  has  to  be  paid  whether  the 
services  are  made  use  of  or  not.  If  hired  for  a  cer- 
tain role,  and  once  having  played  it,  an  actress  cannot 
refuse  to  play  it  further  without  abrogating  the  con- 
tract. Continued  illness  releases  the  manager  from 
the  obligation  to  pay  salary,  but  not  a  temporary  ill- 
ness. Pregnancy  is  not  recognised  as  an  illness  under 
normal  conditions. 

PAWNSHOPS    (MONT  DE  PIETE) 

The  government  pawnshop,  or  Mont  de  Piete, 
is  a  well  organised  and  well  conducted  institution, 
though  of  course  there  is  the  same  sense  of  personal 
fall  in  pride  in  dealing  therewith,  as  with  the  most 
rapacious  usurer.  Loans  are  made  for  one  year,  with 
interest  at  three  per  cent,  plus  another  three  per  cent 
for  expenses,  and  a  further  tax  of  one  per  cent,  in  all 
seven  per  cent.  Sales  are  made  upon  the  claim  of 
the  borrower  after  three  months,  or  by  law,  during 


530      THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

the  thirteenth  month,  if  the  pledge  Is  not  redeemed, 
any  excess  going  to  the  borrower  after  the  deduction 
of  the  additional  expenses  which  are  provided  for 
and  regulated  by  law. 

TELEGRAMS 

Telegrams,  the  sending  of  which  is  a  government 
monopoly  in  France,  may  be  written  on  the  forms 
supplied  at  the  post-office  for  the  purpose,  or  any 
white  blank  paper.  Cablegrams  may  be  written  on 
the  printed  forms  supplied  by  the  cable  companies, 
and  should  be  accepted  by  all  post-office  telegraph 
bureaux,  though  they  are  sometimes  wrongly  refused. 

TIPS    (POURBOIRES) 

These  are  regulated  more  by  custom  than  anything 
else,  and  are  only  treated  here  as  they  apply  to  domi- 
cile, or  residence,  rather  than  for  the  thousand  and 
one  occasions — restaurants,  tea-rooms,  the  paying  for 
personal  service  wherever  expected,  and  the  like. 

From  the  domestic  side,  then,  the  coachman  who 
takes  you  from  the  railway  station  to  your  house  or 
hotel  expects  a  tip  of  twenty-five  centimes  above  his 
legal  fare.  When  you  pay  a  bill  of  the  grocer  or 
the  baker,  you  are  supposed  to  give  the  employee 
who  presents  It  at  least  two  sous.  Servants  at  coun- 
try houses  where  you  may  be  Invited  are  grateful  If 
remembered  at  the  rate  of  a  franc  a  day,  or  five  francs 
as  a  total  If  the  stay  Is  but  a  few  days.  The  withered 
old  party  who  shows  you  to  your  seat  or  box  at  the 
opera  expects  from  fifty  centimes  to  a  franc.  Your 
concierge  will   expect   from  ten  to   fifty   francs   as 


FRENCH  LAW  FOR  FOREIGNERS         531 

etrennes  at  the  New  Year,  and  all  employees  of 
tradesmen  who  have  served  you  the  previous  twelve- 
month, personal  servants  and  domestics,  will  expect 
also  their  New  Year's  gift  of  from  ten  to  twenty- 
five  francs  and  upwards. 

TAXES 

Taxes  for  the  foreigner  in  France  are  a  compli- 
cated procedure.  One  pays  an  indirect  tax  on  salt, 
matches,  etc.,  and  a  direct  tax  on  automobiles,  dogs, 
real  estate,  house  rent,  for  doors  and  windows,  for 
doing  business,  for  the  founding  of  a  club  or  society, 
etc.  There  is  also  the  octroi  taw,  which  is  paid  on 
all  comestibles,  and  many  other  things  besides,  which 
are  brought  into  most  of  the  cities,  towns  and  vil- 
lages of  France.  This  is  a  very  considerable  tax  in 
Paris,  though  it  seldom  is  levied  against  the  individual 
personally,  save  as  you  may  have  made  an  excursion 
to  the  country,  and  the  happy  idea  struck  you  to  bring 
back  a  dozen  really  country  eggs.  Then  you  pay 
as  you  leave  the  railway  station,  or  pass  the  Porte 
Maillot,  or  by  whatever  means  you  may  enter  the 
city. 

The  tenant's  tax  in  Paris  is  one  per  cent  on  the 
rent  value  and  is  imposed  upon  the  tenant.  Rent 
value  of  less  than  five  hundred  francs  secures  exemp- 
tion. These  taxes  are  payable  by  twelve  monthly 
instalments,  or  as  a  total,  at  the  choice  of  the  tenant. 

STORAGE  OF  FURNITURE  OR  PERSONAL  EFFECTS 

There  are  government-recognised  warehouses 
where  goods,   and  under  certain   aspects,   personal 


532      THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

effects,  furniture,  trunks  and  the  like,  may  be  stored 
against  a  proper  receipt  or  warrant.  This  docu- 
ment, under  certain  conditions,  is  negotiable,  and  on 
it  money  may  even  be  borrowed.  This  is  quite  apart 
from  the  function  of  the  government  pawnshop,  or 
Mont  de  Piete. 

STAMPED  PAPER    ( PAPIER  TIMBR6) 

Legal  documents  and  petitions  are  generally  re- 
quired to  be  drawn  up  on  Papier  Timbre.  The  doc- 
ument is  invalid  otherwise.  Such  stamped  paper  is 
usually  to  be  had  at  the  larger  tobacco  shops,  and, 
like  stamps,  tobacco  and  cigars,  is  sold  as  a  govern- 
ment monopoly. 

STOCKS  AND  BONDS 
Gifts  of  stocks  or  bonds,  real  or  personal  property, 
etc.,  between  living  parties  {inter  vivos)  should  be 
registered  under  some  form  of  notarial  act.  Gifts 
from  hand  to  hand,  of  a  watch  or  jewelry,  of  an 
automobile  possibly  {dons  manuels)  ^  require  no  such 
document.  A  married  woman  (a  Frenchwoman  or 
any  other  living  under  French  law)  may  not  receive 
an  inter  vivos  gift  save  by  her  husband's  consent,  or 
the  authority  of  the  French  courts. 

SUNDAY  LAW 

Sundays  are  public  holidays  in  France,  but  private 
business  so  transacted,  including  formal  agreements, 
etc.,  are  valid  if  performed  on  that  day. 

SHOPS  AND  SHOPPING 

Avoid  disputes,  their  settlement  is  a  seemingly  in- 
terminable   affair.     Receipts   should   be   taken    for 


FRENCH  LAW  FOR  FOREIGNERS        533 

every  payment  or  purchase  made,  above  all  from  a 
dealer  with  whom  you  may  at  one  time  or  another 
have  had  a  credit  account.  These  receipts  are  valua- 
ble records.  Keep  them.  A  ten-centime  ''  quit- 
tance ''  stamp  Is  required  by  law  to  be  placed  on  all 
receipts,  and  involves  a  fine  against  payer  and  payee 
In  case  of  omission.  A  dealer  Is  bound  to  deliver  the 
same  goods  which  he  offers,  and  to  guarantee  them 
as  represented,  though  If  offered  "  with  defects,'*  and 
so  accepted  by  the  purchaser,  they  cannot  at  a  later 
time  (of  delivery)  be  refused.  In  the  case  of  unseen 
defects — vices  caches — ^the  responsibility  rests  with  the 
seller.  All  big  establishments  have  a  "  claims  '*  de- 
partment, but  it  Is  conducted  in  their  own  interests, 
though  nominally  bound  by  certain  observations  of 
impartiality  Imposed  by  law. 

SERVANTS 

The  servant  question  Is  not  easily  or  briefly  han- 
dled. Female  servants  from  the  country  are  very 
numerous  in  Paris,  as  are  Swiss.  One  may  often 
learn  of  servants  looking  for  engagements  at  the 
Mairle,  or  town  hall,  of  the  Arrondlssement,  and 
there  are  also  private  employment  agencies  {Bureaux 
de  Placement),  Domestic  service  seems  to  be  at  a 
discount  for  young  girls,  who.  In  Paris  as  elsewhere, 
are  taking  up  with  shop  and  factory  work.  Wine 
and  washing  are  usually  supplied  a  servant,  or,  in 
lieu  thereof,  a  cash  Indemnity  Is  allowed.  Servants 
pay  the  Bureau  de  Placement  3.  fixed  fee,  after  a  situ- 
ation has  been  obtained,  and  after  a  sufficient  time  has 


534      THE  AMERICAN  WOMAN  ABROAD 

passed  to  allow  of  her  having  been  able  to  earn  the 
sum  in  her  new  position.  Servants  remaining  away 
from  their  employer's  establishment  overnight  may 
be  summarily  discharged.  Servants  are  generally  en- 
gaged under  verbal  agreement,  but  it  is  incumbent 
upon  the  employer  to  keep  a  strict  written  record  of 
money  transactions  with  servants,  as  his  word  is  usu- 
ally accepted  as  final  if  supported  with  plausible  book- 
keeping records.  An  engagement  can  be  broken,  for 
cause,  with  a  servant,  on  eight  days'  notice,  usually 
by  the  payment  of  eight  days'  wages  and  packing  them 
off.  In  case  of  bad  service  the  servant  cannot  de- 
mand a  written  character,  but  may  demand  a  certifi- 
cate giving  the  date  of  entrance  and  leaving  his,  or 
her,  employer's  service.  A  servant  may  not  pledge 
the  credit  of  his  employer  for  even  necessaries  for  the 
house. 

V^INDOW  BOXES  FOR  FLOV^ERS 

If  one  keeps  flowers  on  balconies  and  in  window 
boxes,  the  watering  of  them,  or  the  knocking  of  them 
or  their  pots  off  accidentally  into  the  streets,  incurs 
liability  for  damage  by  the  offender. 

WILLS 

A  holograph  will — one  wholly  in  the  writing  of 
the  testator — if  witnessed  by  three  persons,  who 
should  give  their  addresses,  should  be  acceptable  for 
probate  to  authorities  in  the  United  States,  and  would 
be  recognised  by  the  French  authorities,  if  need  be, 
under  article  970  of  the  French  Civil  Code. 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 
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r 

DEC  26    1947 

3llan5lCM 

22Apr'60FW 
,      CD  LD 

JBRARY  USE 

APR  2  8  1950 

lAY  1  0  '.357 

APR  2  9  196S    5 
»ffif31'6621RC0 
P£B    8  1968  1  5 

REC'D  LD 

MAY101957 
.^v^^^^    IBS 

^EC'D  LD 

NOV  10 

i001 

FEB  2<i  t2S0 

LD  21-100m-9,'47(A5702sl6)476 


YC  74483 


■  fm 

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